The missionary dimension of the priest is born from his sacramental configuration to Christ the Head: this brings with it, as a consequence, a cordial and total adherence to that which the ecclesial tradition has recognized as the “apostolica vivendi” forma. The latter consists of participation in a “new life” understood spiritually, in that “new style of life” that was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and which was made their own by the Apostles. By the imposition of the bishop’s hands and the consecrating prayer of the Church, the candidates become new men, they become “priests.” In light of this it seems clear how the “tria munera” are in the first place a gift, and only as a consequence an office, participation in a life and because of this “a potestas.” Certainly, the great ecclesial tradition has justly detached the sacramental efficacy of the concrete existential situation of the priest, and thus the legitimate expectations of the faithful are adequately safeguarded. However, this correct doctrinal precision does not take anything way from the necessary, more than that, the indispensable, tension to moral perfection, which should dwell in every genuinely priestly heart.
“I have decided to convoke a “Priestly Year,” which will run from next June 19, 2009, to June 19, 2010… It will be your task, congregation, in accordance with the diocesan ordinaries and the superiors of religious Institutes, to promote and coordinate the different spiritual and pastoral initiatives that seem useful to make the role and the mission of the priest in the Church and in contemporary society increasingly perceived.”
Does this mean that Rome will clarify for the world the origins of the Priesthood and the continuity of the catholic priesthood with its origins? I hope so.