Penitential Aspects Of The Priestly Vocation

[chrysostom]

I saw mentioned on another VS thread the fact that religious life, as opposed to priesthood, is oriented particularly towards the penitential - and thus particular serious sins committed in the past (murder, apostasy, etc.) that might be an impediment to Holy Orders do not affect someone's eligibility to take vows.

 

That got me thinking.  In what way does the priest live out and understand his identity as a penitent sinner in light of his priesthood?  I may be misinterpreting things, but I gather from what I have heard that the priest as an Alter Christus has a more serious responsibility to keep himself unstained from the world as he goes into the altar of God to offer Christ and to be offered himself for the sake of the people.  Yet he does not receive impeccability at ordination.  He is another Christ who still stumbles.

 

Any thoughts?

[Credo in Deum]

I'm waiting for cappie to respond, however, while waiting one book that I feel would be beneficial to read would be, "The Priest, The Man of God: Dignity and Duties" by St. Joseph Cafasso.   

 

His book is amazing, and why wouldn't it be?  He was the spiritual director and close fried of St. John Bosco. 

[AveMariaPurissima]

A priest I know often speaks of how one of his professors in the seminary told his class that the definition of a priest is "a sinner taken from among sinners to help sinners."

[cappie]

I would say that the priest has to be conformed to Christ in all things including the penitential aspect of the priesthood. I know only too well my unworthiness to celebrate the sacraments.

 

The life and ministry of St. John Vianney recalls for us the core of the priesthood: a life of constant prayer; a simple life devoted to Christ; a life in tune with the heart of Christ and the mind of the Church; a life devoted to the celebration of the sacraments and preaching of the Word.

 

The sacrifice of the cross prefigures and is re-presented in every Mass, as Christ is made present each day on altars throughout the world, and God’s faithful people are drawn into the reality of Christ’s saving death.  The celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the essential sacred action for which every priest is ordained and consecrated.  In the Mass, the priest discovers his identity and mission.  He is called to make Christ present to the world, and to lay down his life for the Church, as Jesus did on the cross.

 

 The ministerial priest finds his identity in Christ.  He is configured to Christ, the head, and sent forth to bring him to others in word, sacrament, and in his manner of life.  The priest’s whole life and work is meant to be an ever-deepening relationship with Christ, a relationship that is experienced in the mind and heart of the Church, a relationship with the Lord that bears rich fruit for the salvation of souls.

 

Priesthood is a constant revealing of the person of Christ in the midst of the world.  It is, therefore, much more than performing functions of ministry, however valuable these are in themselves. The priest must constantly strive to become more like Christ—through his prayer, spiritual discipline, and constant offering of himself in union with his offering of the Mass—so that the presence of Christ may be seen in his ministry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chrysostom]

Thank you Fr! These comments help and are very much appreciated.

[Catherine Therese]

Less theologically, and more a sign of the times - to become a priest in these day of media scrutiny and negative net-casting on the basis of the sins of a minority - THAT is intrinsically penitential.

Further, because of said media scrutiny, I have seen in my own extended family the distress of older relatives who have simple, uncomplicated approaches to their faith... they want so badly for my brothers to be happy and they are convinced that with the scandal in the Church at present, my brothers are setting themselves up as targets and could never be happy in the life they have both chosen. Just about every time they visit, there is pressure applied to my brothers to consider leaving the seminary.

So in addition to the media issue being penitential, the response from family members who just don't get it - that is penitential too.

Blessed be God for the gift of our priests, without whom there would be no-one to make it possible to "Do this in Memory" of Him.

[cappie]

"The priest should live a life of sacrifice, a life of struggles, but should also do it with the knowledge that Christ has risen, which gives him immense joy, which is a joy and a peace that the world cannot touch, the world cannot take away..." 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaoqdKz4m5E#t=83