Sunday, September 30, 2012
328. What is the effect of ordination to the priesthood? (part 3 continuation)
(Comp 328
repetition) The anointing of the Spirit seals the priest with an
indelible, spiritual character that configures him to Christ the priest and
enables him to act in the name of Christ the Head. As a co-worker of the order
of bishops he is consecrated to preach the Gospel, to celebrate divine worship,
especially the Eucharist from which his ministry draws its strength, and to be
a shepherd of the faithful.
“In brief”
(CCC 1595) Priests are united with the bishops in sacerdotal
dignity and at the same time depend on them in the exercise of their pastoral
functions; they are called to be the bishops' prudent co-workers. They form
around their bishop the presbyterium which bears responsibility with him for
the particular Church. They receive from the bishop the charge of a parish
community or a determinate ecclesial office.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 1566) "It is in the Eucharistic cult or in the Eucharistic assembly of the faithful (synaxis) that they exercise in a supreme
degree their sacred office; there, acting in the person of Christ and
proclaiming his mystery, they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the
sacrifice of Christ their head, and in the sacrifice of the Mass they make
present again and apply, until the coming of the Lord, the unique sacrifice of
the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a
spotless victim to the Father" (LG 28; cf. 1 Cor 11:26). From this unique
sacrifice their whole priestly ministry draws its strength (Cf. PO 2).
Reflection
(CCC 1567) "The priests, prudent cooperators of the
episcopal college and its support and instrument, called to the service of the
People of God, constitute, together with their bishop, a unique sacerdotal
college (presbyterium) dedicated, it
is true, to a variety of distinct duties. In each local assembly of the
faithful they represent, in a certain sense, the bishop, with whom they are
associated in all trust and generosity; in part they take upon themselves his
duties and solicitude and in their daily toils discharge them" (LG 28 § 2).
Priests can exercise their ministry only in dependence on the bishop and in
communion with him. The promise of obedience they make to the bishop at the
moment of ordination and the kiss of peace from him at the end of the
ordination liturgy mean that the bishop considers them his co-workers, his
sons, his brothers and his friends, and that they in return owe him love and
obedience. [END]
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