"This priesthood is ministerial. 'This function, which the Lord entrusted to the shepherds of his people, is a true service' (CV II, LG, 24)."
This is the reason for the dignity of the priestswhich is not personal, but ecclesial. The dignity of the mystery they perform, each time they turn the bread and wine into the body and blood of our Lord, is the reason of faith that gives meaning to all Christianity.
In these priests, we admire the virtues proper to any Christian and any honest man: understanding, justice, a life of work (priestly work in this case), charity, education, gentleness in dealing with others.
We, the Christian faithful, expect the priestly character to be clearly emphasized: That the priest pray; that he administer the Sacraments; that he be ready to welcome all, be they of whatever kind; that he put love and devotion into the celebration of Holy Mass; that he sit in the confessional, that he console the sick and the afflicted; that he have counsel and charity for the needy; that he impart catechesis; that he preach the Word of God and not another kind of human science which, even if he knew perfectly well, would not be the science that saves and leads to eternal life.
"God is the only richness that, in the end, people wish to find in a priest". Benedict XVI, Address, 16-03-2009.
St. Josemaría asks: "That of Christ. All Christians can and should be not alter Christus, but ipse Christus: other Christs, Christ himself! But in the priest this is given immediately, in a sacramental way".
St. Josemaría, Priest for eternity, April 13, 1973.
"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.
The priestly ministry exists not for itself, but for "the formation of the Christian community, to the point of making it capable of radiating faith and love in civil society". (Blessed Alvaro del Portillo - Writings on the Priesthood).
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.
"Although their difference is essential and not only in degree, [the baptismal or common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood] are ordained to each other."
