Me, Like Christ? ~ The Imaginative Conservative

At Baptism, all of us became like Christ, and were entrusted with a mission like his as priest, prophet, and king. During this Easter season, may we rejoice in the gift of sharing this unique identity and mission with the resurrected Christ.

Have you noticed any themes in the prayers at Mass this Easter season? The one that’s stood out to me the most is the Sacrament of Baptism. It seems like every few days one of the prayers at Mass refers to the newly baptized, specifically those who entered the Church at the solemn Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. It’s made me consider: What exactly happened at their Baptism? What happened to all of us, for that matter?

When we were baptized, we were given more than membership rights and sociological benefits. More fundamentally, we were formed in the likeness of Christ (Lumen Gentium, §7). Like Christ, then, the baptized person is specifically conformed to Christ’s death and resurrection, Thomas Aquinas teaches (In ad Rom. VI, lect. 1, n. 474, 477). Prior to Baptism, all of us were dead (Eph 2:1–3) and an old self (2 Cor 5:17). At Baptism, we became a new self in which we were clothed with Christ (Gal 3:27).

If each of us is like Christ—a matter of our identity—what do we do with our new self? What implications does this identity have on the way we are called to live our lives? In addition to a new identity, one receives a mission at Baptism. This mission is a participation in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and kingly offices (Lumen Gentium, §31 and Thomas Aquinas, In ad Heb. I, lect. 4, n. 64–65). All of us, regardless of our state in life (i.e. priest, religious, or lay person), share in this threefold office and mission. Like Christ, each of us is called to live as priest, prophet, and king.

What do we do as priest, prophet, and king? What does it mean for our lives? As a priest, all of us offer sacrifice in our respective vocations. The ministerial priest primarily offers the sacrifice of the Mass, while lay people and religious offer particular spiritual sacrifices (i.e. their joys and sorrows, their cooking and cleaning, or their daily duties at the office).

Next, as prophets, we all proclaim the Gospel through both a virtuous lifestyle and our spoken words (Lumen Gentium, §35). It’s not only a mission given to ministerial priests. Rather, every baptized person has a role to play in evangelizing the world of politics, society and economics, as well as the world of culture and the mass media (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, §70). The laity, more than the priest or religious in a way, are particularly poised to proclaim the Gospel to these areas because it is their proper vocation to engage with these secular affairs (Lumen Gentium, §31), many of which could only be easily accessible to them.

Finally, as kings, all of us are given a share in ordering the created world and leading others to heaven. To order the world, we begin with our prayer, which is aimed at bringing about order (Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, q. 83, a. 1, resp.). Our own lives and the world need order. Specifically, our prayer aims to order events and circumstances such that God’s plan for creation may be achieved. As kings, we also lead. In our own respective ways, whether at home, church, or work, we seek to lead people to heaven, their ultimate end. To do so, we have to keep heaven at the forefront of our mind, and to remember that it is the goal not just for us, but for everyone. Leading in this way, we are like the captain of a ship who seeks to lead his ship safely to port (Thomas Aquinas, De Regno, Bk. II, c. 3). As a captain leads his ship, so we as kings seek to lead people (i.e. our parishes, our families, or colleagues) safely to the port of heaven.

At Baptism, then, all of us became like Christ, and were entrusted with a mission like his as priest, prophet, and king. During this Easter season, may we rejoice in the gift of sharing this unique identity and mission with the resurrected Christ.

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Republished with gracious permission from Dominicana (April 2026).

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Image: Photo of baptismal font in St. Peter’s Basilica

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