A Sacred Ministry to the People of God "The faithful expect only one thing from priests: that they be specialists in promoting the encounter between man and God. They are not asked to be experts in economics, construction or politics. They are expected to be experts in spiritual life." ~ Pope Benedict XVI
Could God be calling you to be a priest? God made you for a unique purpose. Even before you were born, He knew your vocation, your mission in life. And if you are a faithful Catholic man, God could be calling you to a higher purpose: to become a Catholic priest.
Priests have a crucial mission: to bring people to Jesus and bring Jesus to people. They are spiritual fathers of thousands of Catholics. They preach the Gospel and offer the sacrifice of the Mass. In short, priests are living witnesses of Christ in the world: men of firm character who stand out in our secular culture.
A good priest is a spiritual hero, a man who sacrifices himself for the people of God. Is Jesus calling you to be his priest?
The priesthood is a vocation. Christ asks some men for the sacrifice of their lives to follow him as his closest companions. From all eternity, certain men are called to the priesthood.
It is a call inscribed in their nature and, therefore, a call that will bring them fulfillment.
A priest acts In Persona Christi. Priests act in persona Christi capitis, which means “in the person of Christ, head of the Church”. That is why the priest speaks in the first person at Mass: “This is my body, given for you.”
As Pope John Paul II wrote: “The priest offers his humanity to Christ, so that Christ can use him as an instrument of salvation, making him, so to speak, another Christ.”
A priest possesses a Sacred Power. When a priest makes the sacraments present, he possesses a sacred power granted by God, in Latin, sacra potestas.
The soul of a priest changes forever. In ordination, a man’s soul undergoes an ontological change—a change of being—that marks his soul in an indelible way forever. Once a priest, always a priest.