2. Central Elements of the Ministry and Life of Priests

[⁸]

a) Priestly identity

5. Priestly identity has to be seen in the context of the divine salvific will since it is a fruit of the sacramental action of the Holy Spirit, a sharing in the saving work of Christ, and completely oriented to the service of that work in the Church as it unfolds in history. Priestly identity is three dimensional: pneumatological, Christological and ecclesiological. This primordial theological structure of the mystery of the priest, who is a minister of salvation, can never be overlooked if he is adequately to understand the meaning of his pastoral ministry in the concrete circumstances of the parish[⁹]. He is the servant of Christ. Through Him, with Him, and in Him, the priest becomes the servant of mankind. His very being, ontologically assimilated to Christ, constitutes the foundation of being ordained for the service of the community. Total commitment to Christ, aptly effected and witnessed through celibacy, places the priest at the service of all. The marvellous gift of celibacy[¹⁰] is clarified by, and draws inspiration from, assimilation to the nuptial gift of the crucified and risen Son of God to a redeemed and renewed mankind.   

The very life and work of the priest - his consecrated person and his ministry - are inseparable theological realities. Their object is service in promoting the Church’s mission[¹¹] which is the eternal salvation of all mankind. The reason for the existence of the priesthood is to be found and discovered in the mystery of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ and the People of God journeying through history, which has been established as the universal sacrament of salvation[¹²]. «The ecclesial community has absolute need of the ministerial priesthood so as to have Christ, Head and Shepherd, present in her midst»[¹³].

6. The baptismal or common priesthood of Christians, which is a genuine participation in the priesthood of Christ, is an essential property of the New People of God[¹⁴] «You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people...» (1Pet 2,9); [He] has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father» (Aps 1,6); [Thou] hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God (Aps 5,10) ... they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him» (Aps 20,6). These passages recall Exodus and transfer what was said of the Old Israel to the New Israel: «You shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation» (Ex 19, 5-6). They also recall Deuteronomy: For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth (Dt 7,6). 

«While the common priesthood is a consequence of the fact that the Christian people has been chosen by God as bridge with mankind and involves every believer who has been inserted into this people, the ministerial priesthood is the fruit of being chosen, it is the fruit of a specific vocation: «[Jesus] called his disciples, and chose from them twelve» (Lk 6, 13-16). By virtue of the ministerial priesthood, the faithful are made aware of their common priesthood and actualize it (cf. Eph 4, 11-12); the priest constantly reminds them that they are the People of God and prepares them to «offer spiritual sacrifices» (cf. 1Pet 2,5), through which Christ himself make of us and eternal offering to the Father (cf.1 Pet 3,18). Without the presence of Christ, represented by the priest, who is the spiritual leader of the community, this would not fully be an ecclesial communion»[¹⁵].

In this priestly people, the Lord instituted a priestly ministry to which some are called so that they might serve the faithful in pastoral charity through the potestas sacra. The common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood differ from each other not only in grade but also in essence[¹⁶]. The difference between the two priesthoods is, therefore, not simply one of greater or lesser participation in the priesthood of Christ, but one of essentially different ways of participating in that priesthood. The common priesthood of the faithful is based on baptismal character which is the spiritual seal of their having been claimed for Christ. It "enables and commits Christians to serve God by a vital participation in the sacred liturgy of the Church and to exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity"[¹⁷].

The ministerial priesthood, on the other hand, is based on the sacramental character received in the Sacrament of Orders which configures the priest to Christ so as to enable him to act in the person of Christ, the Head, and to exercise the potestas sacra to offer Sacrifice and forgive sins[¹⁸]. A new and specific mission is sacramentally conferred on those of the baptized who have received the grace of the ministerial priesthood: to embody Christ's triple office - prophetic, cultic and regal - as Head and Shepherd of the Church in the midst of the people of God[¹⁹]. In exercising their specific functions, they act in persona Christi Capitis, and consequently, in the same way, they act in nomine Ecclesiae[²⁰].

7. "Our sacramental priesthood, therefore, is both 'hierarchial' and 'ministerial'. It is a particular 'ministerium', that is a 'service', with regard to the community of the faithful. It does not, however, derive from that community nor from its 'call' or 'delegation'. Rather, the ministry is a gift for the community which comes from Christ himself and from the fullness of his priesthood (...) Conscious of this reality, we understand how our priesthood is 'hierarchial', that is, how it is connected with the power to form and govern a priestly people (cf. ivi), and how, precisely because of this, it is also 'ministerial'. We exercise an office through which Christ himself incessantly 'serves' the Father in the work of our salvation. Our entire priestly life is, and ought to be, deeply imbued by this service if we wish adequately to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice 'in persona Christ"[²¹].  

In recent times, the Church has experienced problems of "priestly identity", deriving sometimes from an unclear theological understanding of the two ways of participating in the priesthood of Christ. In some areas, these difficulties have progressed to the point of losing that profound ecclesiological balance which is proper to the perennial and authentic Magisterium.  

At the present time, however, circumstances are such that it is possible to overcome the danger of "clericalizing" the laity and of "secularizing"[²²] the clergy.

The generous commitment of the laity in the areas of worship, transmission of the faith and pastoral collaboration, in the face of shortages of priests, has tempted some sacred ministers and laity to go beyond that which is permitted by the Church and by their own ontological sacramental capacities. This results in a theoretical and practical under estimation of the specific mission of the laity to sanctify the structures of society from within.

This same crisis of identity has also brought about the "secularization" of some sacred ministers by the obfuscation of their absolutely indispensable specific role in ecclesial communion.

8. In the Church, the priest, alter Christus, is the minister of the essential salvific actions[²³]. Acting in persona Christi Capitis, he is the fount of life and vitality in the Church and in his parish by virtue of his sacrificial power to confect the Body and Blood of the Redeemer, his authority to proclaim the Gospel, and his power to conquer the evil of sin through sacramental forgiveness. The priest himself is not the source of this spiritual life. Rather, it comes from Him who distributes it to all the people of God. The priest, anointed by the Holy Spirit, is the servant who enters the sacramental sanctuary: Jesus Christ Crucified (cf. John 19, 31-37) and Risen, from whom salvation comes.

With Mary, Mother of the Eternal High Priest, the priest is aware that, with her, he is "an instrument of salvific communication between God and man", albeit in a different way: the Blessed Virgin through the Incarnation, the priest through the power of the Sacrament of Holy Orders[²⁴]. The relationship between priests and the Blessed Virgin Mary is based not only on a need for protection and assistance but more so on an awareness of an objective fact: "the presence of Our Lady", that "operative presence with which the Church lives the mystery of Christ"[²⁵].

9. As a participant in the directive action of Christ, the Head and Shepherd of his Body[²⁶], the priest, at the pastoral level, is specifically empowered to be a "man of communion"[²⁷], government and of service to all. He is charged with promoting and maintaining unity between the members and the Head, and between the members. By his vocation, he unites and serves this double dimension of Christ's pastoral function (cf. Mt 20,28; Mark 10, 45; Lk 22, 27). For its development, the Church's life requires energies which can only be supplied by this ministry of communion, government and service. It requires priests who are totally assimilated to Christ whose vocation originates in full appropriation of Christ. It requires priests who, "in" and "with" Christ, live all the virtues manifested by Christ the Shepherd, and who are motivated by, and draw inspiration from, assimilation with the nuptial offering of the Crucified and Risen Son of God to a redeemed and renewed mankind. It requires priests who wish to be sources of unity and of fraternal offering of self to all -especially the most needy. It requires men who, recognising that their priestly identity derives from the Good Shepherd[²⁸], internally live that image and externally manifest it in a manner immediately recognisable to all[²⁹].

The priest renders Christ, Head of the Church, present through the ministry of the Word which is a sharing in his prophetic office[³⁰]. In persona et nomine Christi, the priest is minister of the evangelizing word which calls all to conversion and holiness. His is minister of the word of worship which praises God's greatness and gives thanks for His mercy. He is minister of the word of the sacraments which are the effective source of grace. In these multiple ways, the priest, with the power of the Holy Spirit, prolongs the teaching of Christ in His Church.