When I was Protestant, sometimes we would wish that Jesus still walked among us in the flesh. Typically, we almost entirely focused on Him living in our Hearts, but there were those whispered longings of our Emmanuel as it was in the time of the Apostles.
I was just listening to a folk song on the radio and the lyrics went, "inch by inch and row by row, someone bless these seeds I sow," and I thought, "well, have a priest come bless the seeds." And that's when it struck me. Christ gave us the priesthood (and the Eucharist, but in this case I am focusing on the priesthood) as a gift of His Flesh and Humanity among us. When a priest comes to bless these seeds I sow, it isn't some guy performing a cute feel-good ceremony. It's Christ in the flesh through the priest doing the blessing!
If Christ can be both God and Man, then how hard is it for Him to be Fr. So-and-So and Jesus? Of course I can hear it already, "ArE yOu SaYiNg PriEsTs ArE gOd??!" No. I am not saying Priests are deities, nor are they merely symbolically Jesus in the Flesh. Can I explain what I mean? No. It's a mystery. Priests aren't Christ's flesh puppets, either. It's something more meaningful and beautiful than that. Perhaps someone more learned and wise than I could explain it better.
Jesus is here with the priest, through the priest, and that is a gift, a...remnant?...of Emmanuel.
