What is a Priest?
"The Sacrament of Orders, which you are about to receive,
will make you sharers in the very mission of Christ; you
will be called to scatter the seed of his Word, the seed
that carries in itself the Kingdom of God; to dispense
divine mercy and to nourish the faithful at the table of
His Body and Blood"
Pope Benedict XVI, Ordination Homily on April 29,
2007 |
A man of God,
chosen by God
"The Priesthood is a call, not a career; a
redefinition of self, not just a new ministry; a way of life,
not a job; a state of being, not just a function; a permanent,
lifelong commitment, not a temporary style of service; an
identity, not just a role. We are priests; yes the
doing, the ministry, is mighty important, but it flows from
the being; we can act like priests, minister as priests,
preach as priests, because first and foremost we are priests!
Being before act!
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, Priests for the Third
Millennium
A man of the
Eucharist
"We were born from the Eucharist. If
we can truly say that the whole Church lives from the
Eucharist ("Ecclesia de Eucharistia vivit"), as I reaffirmed
in my recent Encyclical, we can say the same thing about the
ministerial priesthood: it is born, lives, works and bears
fruit "de Eucharistia" (cf. Council of Trent, Sess. XXII,
canon 2: DS 1752). There can be no Eucharist without the
priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the
Eucharist."
Pope John Paul II, Letter to Priests 2004
A man of the
Word
"We want to stress once more the very
important place that preaching still has, especially in the
modern Catholic apostolate and in connection with the dialogue
which is our present concern. No other form of
communication can take its place not even the exceptionally
powerful and effective means provided by modern technology:
press, radio and television. In effect, the apostolate
and sacred preaching are more or less synonymous terms.
Preaching is the primary apostolate. Our ministry,
Venerable Brethren, is before all else the ministry of the
word."
Pope Paul VI, Ecclesiam Suam
A man of
Pastoral Charity
"Pastoral charity is the virtue by which we
imitate Christ in his self-giving and service. It is not
just what we do, but our gift of self which manifests Christ's
love for his flock. Pastoral charity determines our way
of thinking and acting, our way of relating to people.
It makes special demands on us."
POV 23
A Sign of
Contradiction
"In a culture like ours, the Priest's life
is a sign of contradiction to much of what the world imagines
to be true. The priest is not a contrarian,
however. His being-different is not an end in itself, an
indulgence in idiosyncrasy. The priest is a sign of
contradiction so that the world can learn the truth about
itself and can be converted. The radical openness to
serve others that should be manifest in a happy, holy priest's
life is a living lesson to the world that self-giving, not
self-assertion, is the royal road to human flourishing."
George Weigel, The Priest: Icon of Christ, Enabler of
Sanctity
A man
configured to Christ, the Good Shepherd
The Priest, the steward of the mysteries of
God, is truly himself when he is for others. Prayer
enables him to recognize those whom the Father has given to
him. These are, in the first place, those whom the Good
Shepherd has as it were placed on the path of his priestly
ministry, of his pastoral care. They are children,
adults and the aged. They are the youth, married
couples, and families, but also those who are alone.
They are the sick, the suffering, the dying; they are those
who are spiritually close...but also those who are
distant. Those who for different reasons are negatively
disposed, those who find themselves in difficulties of various
sorts, those who are struggling against vices and sin, those
who are fighting for faith and hope, those who seek the
Priest's help and those who reject it.
Text from the
Archdiocese
of Boston Vocation Office
