Today is Priesthood
Sunday. It is an opportunity to give thanks to God for the gift of the
priesthood. “Only a validly ordained Catholic priest has the power (bestowed by
Christ through the apostolic ministry of the Catholic Church) to turn bread and
wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and to absolve sins. Acting in the person of Christ as mediators
between God and man, priests continue Christ’s work of redemption on earth. The Catholic priesthood therefore is an extension
of Christ’s perfect Priesthood; ‘Only Christ is the true priest, the others
being only his ministers.’” (CCC 1545)
It is important that
we pray for our priests to receive extra grace from God to carry out
the work they have been called to do. I thank God for all of our priests but
especially those that have personally touched my life. I love this devotion that
I came across a few years ago in Magnificat.
“To live in the
midst of the world
with no desire for
its pleasure…
To be a member of
every family yet belonging to none…
To share all
sufferings; to penetrate all secrets;
to heal all wounds…
To daily go from
men to God to offer Him their petitions…
To return from God
to men to offer them His hope…
To have a heart of
fire for charity and
a heart of bronze
for chastity…
To bless and be
blest forever, O God,
what a life and it
is yours,
O Priest of Jesus
Christ!”
Father Henri Dominique Lacordaire, O.P.
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