Spiritual Formation

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Provide quality, lifelong religious formation
 at all levels, through educational programs

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Vocations

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Are you being called to serve as a priest?
or
a religious nun or brother?

The Priest

Nowhere does a parish community show forth the mystery of the Church more clearly than in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The Mass requires the presence and ministry of a priest. Like John the Baptist, the priest is the “friend of the Bridegroom” (John 3:29), rejoicing in the union of Christ with his bride, the Church. The priest effectively fosters that union by standing in the person of Christ at the head of the assembly (in persona Christi capitis), by presiding over His prayer, preaching the word of God, and offering the sacrifice of Christ in the Holy Spirit to the Father. “When he celebrates the Eucharist, therefore, he must serve God and the people with dignity and humility, and by his bearing and by the way he says the divine words he must convey to the faithful the living presence of Christ” (GIRM, 93).

The priest must be ablaze with what John Paul II calls “Eucharistic amazement” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 6). When the priest speaks the words of consecration first uttered by Christ in the upper room, he places his voice and his whole being at the disposal of the Lord. Then, awed by what happens on the altar before which he stands, he proclaims the mystery of faith in the midst of the Church. Everything in the life of the priest flows into this moment, and flows out of it.

Prepared by Father Mark-Daniel Kirby, OCist, PHD. Copyright© Archdiocese of Chicago, Liturgy Training Publications; 1-800-933-1800; www.ltp.org.
 

Information pertaining to religious vocations can be viewed at the following web sites:

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