A Jew by birth must be born to a Jewish mother. To be a Jewish priest your father had to have been one before you. Is biology destiny? The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews thought not. He recognized Jesus as the great, high priest even though he was not from a priestly family. He uses the example of Melchizedek to find a way around “a law expressed in a commandment concerning physical descent.” It is not biology but fidelity that made Jesus the great, high priest. That lesson is meant for us as well. We don’t inherit the faith because we’re Irish or Italian or Mexican. We must take ownership of the faith on our own personal behalf to be a true Catholic.
