Reflection for 3 May 2026: Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A)
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do ,and will do greater ones than these…” (John 14:12).
Dear Marian Helpers and Members of our Marian Family,
All of us, by virtue of our Baptism, are priests of God. The priesthood shared by all the baptized is called the common priesthood. This priesthood is different from the ministerial priesthood, where men are ordained to serve at the altar of God, but is a type of priesthood nonetheless.
What does it mean to be a priest? It means to pray, to serve and to offer sacrifice. Ministerial priests pray the Liturgy of the Hours five times a day, serve the Church in many ways and, of course, offer the sacrifice of the Mass. Members of the common priesthood (that is, lay and ordained alike) pray in many ways, serve in many ways and offer sacrifice in many ways.
Ultimately, we offer our very selves as spiritual sacrifices to God, offering our whole lives as a gift to Him, that our prayers, our works and our sufferings will be of some benefit to ourselves and to the upbuilding of His Kingdom, the Church. To strengthen us, He gave and is giving us the Holy Spirit. This Spirit works miracles and allows us to do great works, wonderful works.
We may not see the miracles and graces that our sacrifices gain, but I can assure you, that your prayers and spiritual offerings are not in vain. God takes every prayer and offering and uses them for the good of others, maybe even people far away or in Purgatory. We may not know or see that good that we bring into this world, but we will know it in the next. This knowledge will give us such great joy, to see how good and loving our God is and to see how He takes our little gifts and make them great.
If we are faithful to our role as members of the common priesthood, tasked with offering spiritual sacrifices and prayers to the Father, then we can take comfort in the words of Christ, that we, too, will have room in His Father’s house. If we live our lives in union with Jesus, then He will gladly take our small sacrifices and unite them with His, that the word of God will spread and that many more disciples will be added to the Lord.
As we gather for Mass this Sunday, we can offer our participation in it as a prayer to God. And in our reception of Holy Communion (whether physically or spiritually), ask the Lord for the grace to live your common priesthood well, to offer everything, the good, the bad, the difficult, the disappointing, the joyful and the holy to Him, as a spiritual sacrifice so that you and the Church will continually be built up by the help of God’s grace.
May God bless you now and always!
Fr Alex Pumphrey, MIC
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Contact Father Alex at info@divinemercy.org.uk
Please send us your prayer intentions! (click here). We will place them at the foot of our altar in the Divine Mercy Apostolate’s Chapel here in West Ealing, London and will remember them in our daily Chaplets of Divine Mercy.
