When considering the role of a priest, we cannot simply outline the things he does; what he is matters first and foremost. The priesthood is not merely a profession or a collection of duties, but a vocation and a sacramental participation in the priesthood of Christ.
A priest is, first of all, a baptised man who has heard God calling him to a particular vocation within the Church — that of the ministerial priesthood. After usually six or seven years of formation and training, he is ordained to the priesthood by a bishop through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Ordination is a sacrament; that is, an efficacious sign of God’s grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church. Through ordination, a profound and permanent change takes place in the man: he is configured to Christ in a particular way and receives the grace to serve as a minister of Christ and His Church. The character conferred by Holy Orders remains permanently, which is why ordination is not simply a temporary appointment or ecclesiastical office.
Through his priestly ministry, the priest acts in the person of Christ, especially in proclaiming the Gospel, celebrating the Sacred Liturgy, offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, forgiving sins in the Sacrament of Penance, and shepherding the faithful entrusted to his care. His ministry therefore has its source not simply in himself, but in Christ, the one true High Priest.
Another name for this sacrament is “Holy Orders”. Through it, the priest is configured more closely to Christ the Priest and is called to give his life in service of God and His people. The priesthood is therefore not primarily about what a priest does, but about who he has been called and sacramentally configured to be: a servant of Christ and a shepherd of His Church.
When a man receives Holy Orders, he is configured to Christ. This means that, when he carries out his ministerial work, he acts by the grace and authority of Christ rather than by his own power. Through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, he receives a special grace of the Holy Spirit to fulfil the ministry entrusted to him.
The Holy Spirit may be described, in simple terms, as the presence and power of God at work in the world and in the life of the Church. In the most profound sacramental sense, ordination brings about a permanent change in the man who receives it. He is configured to Christ and marked with a permanent sacramental character. If he lives his vocation — his calling from God — faithfully, he can strive to say with St Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20).
The priest is changed not simply because of what he is able to do, but because of what he has become through the grace of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Holy Orders as:
“The sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time…”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1536)
Everything a priest does in his ministry flows from what he becomes through ordination: presiding at Mass, absolving sinners, anointing the sick, proclaiming and explaining the Gospel, giving blessings, and exercising pastoral leadership in building up a local community of faith. As the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton explains in its leaflet on vocations to the priesthood:
“The priest does what he does because of what he is: a priest of Jesus Christ.”
Normally, diocesan priests are ordained for service in a particular diocese, while religious priests are ordained for the service of the religious institute or order to which they belong. Diocesan priests are the bishop’s co-workers in the ministry of the Church. At ordination, they make a promise of obedience to their bishop and may be entrusted with a variety of responsibilities within the diocese, including the care of parishes and other apostolic works.
One of the principal ways in which a priest serves as a co-worker with his bishop is by participating in the Church’s mission to proclaim, teach, and safeguard the Word of God as handed on in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
A priest, sharing in the priesthood of Christ and exercising the authority entrusted to him by the Church, continues the priestly ministry of Jesus in many different ways within his parish or wherever his bishop assigns him. Above all, he celebrates the Holy Mass, the central act of Christian worship and the source and summit of the life of the Church, acting in persona Christi — in the person of Christ — in the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
The priest also celebrates several of the other sacraments. He baptises, hears confessions and administers the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, assists at and blesses marriages on behalf of the Church, and celebrates the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, praying with and anointing those who are seriously ill or in need of the Church’s sacramental ministry.
He is also entrusted with shepherding, caring for, and, according to the authority given to him, governing God’s people in his parish or wherever he is placed by his bishop. The priest, living in the midst of the people he serves, is called to teach, sanctify, and lead, always through charity and service.
The priestly ministry is therefore lived out in many different circumstances. The priest accompanies people through the joys and difficulties of human life: at Baptisms, weddings and funerals, in moments of sickness and bereavement, in the confessional, in parish communities, and in the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. The ministry is as varied as the men who are called to it. No two parishes are exactly the same, and diocesan priests may also serve in specialised ministries such as university, hospital, prison, or military chaplaincies.
Like Christian marriage, the Sacrament of Holy Orders also provides a special sacramental grace — God’s help given to the person who receives the sacrament — enabling the priest to live his vocation faithfully and to serve Christ and His Church with perseverance. The priesthood is therefore not merely a set of functions or responsibilities. It is a sacramental vocation in which a man gives himself to Christ and, through Him, to the service of His people.
Discover more from Chavez Cyrillus Mariae Poon
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
