WHAT IS THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD?
I will give you Shepherds after my own Heart (Jer 3:15)
A priest is one who is chosen by the Father, and has been configured, equipped and moulded by the Spirit of Christ through the Sacrament of Orders. His intimate communion with Christ and the Church seeks expressions in fervent prayer, in integrity of life, in the pastoral charity of his ministry, tirelessly offering himself for the salvation of man.
Vatican II says, "Through the sacred ordination and mission which they received from the bishops priests are promoted to the service of Christ the teacher, priest and king; they are given a share in his ministry, through which the Church here on earth is being ceaselessly build up into the people of God, Christ's body and the temple of the Spirit." (Presbyterorum Ordinis, #1) In other words, priests are "consecrated in order to preach the Gospel and shepherd the faithful as well as to celebrate divine worship as true priests of the New Testament." (Lumen Gentium, #28) In these statements of the documents, the three-fold function of the priest is highlighted: minister of the Word of God, Minister of the Sacraments and the Liturgy, and minister of pastoral charity.
More recently, Pope John Paul II speaks of the priesthood from another perspective, emphasizing the participation in the mystery of God, the involvement in and strengthening of the communion of the Church, and the sharing in her mission. "The nature and mission of the ministerial priesthood cannot be defined except through this multiple and rich interconnection of relationships which arise from (the mystery of) the Blessed Trinity and are prolonged in the communion of the Church and his vocation and mission among the people of God and in the world." (Pastores Dabo Vobis, #12)
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