“Without me you cannot, without you I will not.”
Of the many possible ways in ways in which God could have provided for the propagation of the human race, God, in His wisdom, power and love, chose just one.
God ordained that a husband and wife would serve as the transmitters of human life into which He would breathe a spiritual soul and so bring about the birth of a new-born child.
In other words, a father and a mother serve as co-creators with God in begetting new human life. Such is God’s marvellous wisdom, power and love. And therein lies the sanctity of the Sacrament of Marriage and the dignity of parenthood.
It is as though God, in spite of His almighty power, wisdom and love, is saying to the parents: “Without Me you cannot; without you I will not.”
Similarly, of the many possible ways in which God could have provided for the spiritual nurture of people, in His wisdom, power and love, He chose just one.
He decided to share His divine power, mission and authority with mere human beings, who would serve as transmitters of His divine life in and through their priestly and pastoral ministry.
In other words, God just had no alternative but to choose humans to minister to humans. And so, Christ Jesus shared His Divine Priesthood with mere mortal human beings, thereby giving them a share in His priestly, kingly and sanctifying mission.
Therein lies the sanctity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the dignity of the sacred priesthood. Truly the priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. It is as though God, in spite of His almighty power, wisdom and love, is saying to His priests: “Without Me you cannot; without you I will not.”
The priesthood is indeed a gratuitous and generous gift of God that defies both comprehension and gratitude.
Once again, of the innumerable possible ways in which God could have provided for the spiritual and pastoral care of His family, He deliberately chose one and just one – He didn’t even consider a second.
He decided to share His power and authority with mere mortal humans, His priests, who would serve as a channel of His boundless love, His unfathomable wisdom and His sublime power.
The priest – an ‘extraction from the common’ to be ‘a consignment to the whole’
Through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, a priest is brought into Christ Jesus; he enters into relations with the Father through the Son, and through a deepening of this bond, he therefore becomes capable of revealing the nature of this God to the world: not an enigmatic and terrible God, but “a God with a human face, a God who is love.”
In explaining the term ‘sanctification’ as ‘the giving over of a person to God,” Pope Benedict XVI defines the essence of the priesthood as ‘a transfer of ownership, a being taken out of the world and given to God.” In a word, a priest is a visible sign of God’s presence.
In virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, a priest is able to enter into contact with the person of Christ Jesus and so speak and act in His name, representing to the world this power of love through which the priesthood of Christ finds expression.
And since he carries out his ministry in persona Christi (in the person of Christ Jesus), the priest continues the saving actions of Christ Jesus, “breaking the Bread of Life and remitting sins,” through which he has been granted the power to reintegrate man into the very heart of God and to offer him the possibility of redemption and forgiveness.
At the conclusion of the International Year for Priests, Pope Benedict XVI officiated at a series of services, at which approximately 15,000 priests from all over the world were present. Addressing the questions of a representative set of priests, the Holy Father said, “Christ Jesus is drawing us into Himself, allowing us to speak for Him. He is at all times the only real priest, yet He is very present to the world today because He draws us into Himself.” Next, he cautioned priests against a ‘theology of arrogance’ that makes God a mere object rather than a subject speaking to us. Instead, the Pope said priests must engage in a ‘theological dialogue’ with love and so come to a better knowledge of the Beloved.
Finally, Pope Benedict urged priests to live out their priesthood ‘in a way that is so persuasive’ that young people may see an example of a vocation lived fully.
Indeed, there is no better advertisement for the priesthood than a happy priest.