Yesterday, five men were ordained to the diocesan priesthood at St. Michael's Cathedral.
The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution, he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything…If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place.
– St. Jean Marie Vianney
Immaculate Mother,
ReplyDeletein this place of grace,
called together by the love of your Son Jesus
the Eternal High Priest, we,
sons in the Son and his priests,
consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart,
in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.
We are mindful that, without Jesus,
we can do nothing good (cf. Jn 15:5)
and that only through him, with him and in him,
will we be instruments of salvation
for the world.
Bride of the Holy Spirit,
obtain for us the inestimable gift
of transformation in Christ.
Through the same power of the Spirit that
overshadowed you,
making you the Mother of the Saviour,
help us to bring Christ your Son
to birth in ourselves too.
May the Church
be thus renewed by priests who are holy,
priests transfigured by the grace of him
who makes all things new.
-- Pope Benedict, in prayer to Our Lady, at Fatima