The glory of priesthood

The priesthood of the Catholic Church, continuing as it is in an impregnable and smooth chain of ranks, from St. Peter to his saintly successor in the Vatican today, holds the Divine force as "Christ's ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you as though Christ Himself were here pleading with you, receive the love He offers you - be reconciled to God" (2Cor. 5:20).

Like the apostles before Him, the priest is sent by Christ to proclaim the good news of salvation to the world and to make Christ present for His people in the Holy Sacraments - "Do this in memory of me." The Eucharistic celebration, where the body of Jesus Christ is offered for our salvation, is continued several times every minute round the clock throughout the world by the priests of God.

The priest possesses words of power. Through his preaching he can convert hardened sinners and unbelievers. Through the sacramental words he can change simple bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. A mystical power not bestowed even to His angels or saints in heaven, not even to His Blessed Mother.

The Catholic priesthood is a living instrument of Christ. As the dispenser of the Sacraments, the priesthood is the centre of God's work on earth. "I have chosen you that you may bear fruit; go teach all nations," is their divine commission, and the history of the Universal Church shows how magnificently the priesthood has responded.

A fearless army, the priesthood goes striding across the centuries, carrying through every land God's message to man. Caring nothing for any notice or reward, they have been in the forefront of civilization.

In the Yukon, icy Alaska, in Canada and North America, they were the first to venture among the inhabitants. In the pathless forests of Amazon, in the rolling planes of South America centuries before our modern explorers, they have penetrated the vastness of Africa with the Cross of Christ, carrying their lives in their hands.

They have crossed Asia from Syria to China, on to Japan and down the pacific islands, and into the sub-continent of India and the South East. In fact, the Catholic priests have covered every part of the world taking the message of Christ even through blood, sweat and tears.

He who writes the doings of this army must necessarily write the history of the human race. Because, that army is the history of mankind, history written by the finger of God, history that makes simple all the problems of creation.

One must have a broad vision to measure the heights of heroism attained by Catholic priests. Men who sacrifice their friends, family-life, family members, a home sweet home and even life itself if need be, in compliance with the Divine call. However, all these sacrifices are but a small price to pay compared with the tremendous privilege of being in the companionship with Christ.

Priestly vocation

A man does not become a Catholic priest in the same way that he might become a medical doctor. A seminary is a special kind of school in which study and learning are combined with prayer, self discipline and spiritual development.

The seminary means a seed-ground where something grows. This something is the seminarian who grows in mind, heart and soul into the image of Christ. Year after year passes in this school of self-denial, purifying and strengthening the strong foundation of natural force of character that is his. His call is from God and he realize this.

His character, strong enough primarily to resist the call of the world has, by long and steady training, fully and scientifically developed. He must first conquer himself, the most difficult of all conquests, because, he who conquers himself is greater than he who conquers a city. At the end of his training, he is raised to an office that places him between God and man.

Through him is continued the distribution of the bread of life that was first placed on the table of the last supper. Heedless of himself the Catholic priest spends his life directing souls to the waiting saviour of the world.

The seminarian becomes a priest of God by receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders instituted by Christ, a creative act of God. It is a kind of incarnation by which the human person is given a divine character to enable him to do what he could not otherwise do, to continue the Redemptive work of Christ Jesus --the Glory of the Priesthood.

Norbert Manatung