Who is the priest? He is a man of God for other men. The priest is a man of God, that is, a man chosen by God.
Vocation is above all and exhaustively an initiative of God towards our life. He takes initiative towards each one of us, as St. Paul affirms: God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim 2:4). The same Paul, however, specifies that not all are chosen as priests, because there is a diversity of ministries in the Christian community (1Cor 12:5). For the ministry of ordained priesthood, God chooses certain men specifically.
The priest is above all a man that God has chosen for Himself. He chose him to entrust him with a particular task in service of His people, a task that requires a special intimacy with Him. Such a task consists in being the voice of Another. Man of God means witness to God. To be this, we must participate in His life.
The priest is a man chosen by God for other men. The priestly life is therefore donation. Whoever would keep something for himself can choose another path. The life of the priest, in fact, is nothing other than participation in the life of Jesus who gave Himself and gives Himself. He gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20). As the Letter to the Philippians says, exinanivit semetipsum, He emptied Himself, He stripped Himself, He gave Himself without measure (Phil 2:7). His only measure is not having a measure.
The priest is a man chosen by God for other men.
It is clear, then, that the center of the priesthood lies in the celebration of the sacraments. They are the fruit of Jesus’ boundless self-giving: from them the priest can draw the strength and measure of his own self-giving. By making them present in the life of God’s people, he likewise opens the hearts of the faithful to new life.
Christ’s gift brings about an exchange that benefits humanity: while He gives us His whole self, He takes upon himself all our evil, together with our good. Priestly life also consists in welcoming the lives of others in order to bring them to Christ.
The man called to this task must entrust his own burdens to the arms of Jesus: by freeing himself from them, he will be able to carry the burdens of others.
People of all times aspire to reunite the past, present, and future in unity. They seek unity with others, with family, with friends, with work. It is a gift from God: it is, in fact, the work of his Spirit who creates it through his gifts. Thus, through the gifts of the Spirit, the priest brings into the world the unity that man desires.
