The Priesthood of Jesus Christ

The Joy of the Priesthood
October 2014, By Bishop Michael F. Olson, STD

The priesthood is the heart of Jesus Christ.

St. John Vianney

• Joy is a supernatural gift that we receive through God’s grace. Our joy as priests comes to us through a point of faith and a point of hope.

• The point of faith is that the priesthood exists entirely at Christ’s initiative for the sake of the Eucharist. There is no Eucharist without the priesthood. Without Jesus’ decision to institute the Eucharist, there is no priesthood.
• The point of hope that every priest considers is that his own priestly vocation is not something that he has initiated as a career or lifestyle choice, but is also even more particularly and personally initiated by Christ. "It is I who have chosen you, not you who have chosen me." There is no institution in the natural order of society parallel to the priesthood. The priesthood is an entirely graced reality that transforms our humanity in all of its frailty for the spread of the Gospel.

• The joy of the priestly vocation makes clear that fidelity to Christ’s unique sacrifice in the institution of the Eucharist (the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood) is the only way of giving God fitting thanks. In entrusting us, His disciples and His priests with the mission of the Eucharist, Jesus even risks betrayal – yet, consider how necessary this act of trust is on His part to the celebration of the Eucharist and to our own salvation. His generous act of entrustment with the sacred mysteries is what gives us the grace of confidence in His love and in our ministry.
• The joy of the priesthood is engendered by Christ’s call to each of us to share in His Cross – because on the Cross, we see no pleasure, no happiness, but the perfect joy of the Son’s will lovingly surrendered in obedience to the will of the Father.

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