What is a priest?
"The priest is at the service of men: he is a minister of their salvation, of their happiness, of their authentic liberation", Benedict XVI.
What and who is a priest?
"The presbyters, the priests, are in the Church and for the Church a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ, Head and Shepherd." St. John Paul II.
When a priest is formed and receives the Sacrament of Holy Orders, he is prepared to lend his body and spirit, that is, his whole being, to the Lord, making use of him "especially in those moments in which he performs the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ when, in the name of God, in sacramental Confession, he forgives sins.
La administración de estos dos Sacramentos es tan capital en la misión del priest, que todo lo demás debe girar alrededor», St. Josemaría.
Benedict XVI - GA 24/06/09
As for the mission of a priest, "precisely because he belongs to Christ, the priest is radically at the service of men: he is a minister of their salvation, of their happiness, of their authentic liberation".
Mission of a priest
Por san Juan Pablo II y san Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer.
Más información
"Our identity has as its ultimate source the love of the Father (...) The life and ministry of the priest are a continuation of the life and action of Christ himself".
St. John Paul II, Message, 02-11-1990.
Más información
¿Cuál es su identidad? Se pregunta san Josemaría: «La de Cristo. Todos los cristianos podemos y debemos ser no ya alter Christusbut ipse Christus: otros Cristos, ¡el mismo Cristo! Pero en el sacerdote esto se da inmediatamente, de forma sacramental».
St. Josemaría, Priest for eternity, April 13, 1973.
Why did Christ institute the priestly ministry?
Por beato don Álvaro del Portillo, primer sucesor de san Josemaría al frente del Opus Dei.
El ministerio sacerdotal, existe no para sí mismo, sino para «la formación de la comunidad cristiana, hasta hacerla capaz de irradiar ella misma la fe y el amor en la sociedad civil». (Beato Álvaro del Portillo – Escritos sobre el sacerdocio).
Since his identity is sacramentally the identity of Christ, the priest's fidelity corresponds to the fidelity of Christ. Hence the need for the holiness of the priest, not only for the objective efficacy of the sacraments, but for the full future of the service which, with every ministry, he renders to the faithful.
«Aunque su diferencia es esencial y no solo en grado, [el sacerdocio bautismal o común y el ministerial] están ordenados el uno al otro» (LG, 10).
