Celebration of the Christian Mystery : Sacraments

 PREVIEW OF SESSION NINE

“HOLY ORDERS: CALLED TO SERVE” 

Young men worry about not having fulfilling lives if they become priests.  Yet if they search at all, they will find many priests who have contributed significantly to both church and society while finding the happiness that all people seek.  Fr. Henri-Dominique Lacordaire helped bring France back to faith after the Enlightenment and the Revolution.  He also planted seeds of renewal in the Church that ripened during Vatican II.  Fr. Lacordaire wrote:  

To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures;

To be a member of each family, yet belong to none;

To share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds;

To go from men to God and to offer Him their prayers;

To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope;

To have a heart of fire for charity; and a heart of bronze for chastity;

To reach and to pardon; console and bless always.

My God , what a life! And it is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ! 

In the ninth session of “Why Catholic?” we learn about the distinctiveness of the ministerial priesthood.  All Christians belong to the universal priesthood of the faithful, but only bishops and priests minister to the common priesthood by offering sacraments and instructing authoritatively.  Deacons also are ordained, but their ministry is predominantly one of temporal service.