Presbyters carry out their sacred ministry above all in the Eucharist when, acting in the person of Christ, they re-present his eternal sacrifice

At the General Audience of Wednesday, 12 May, the Holy Father spoke of the priest's principal mission of celebrating the Eucharist. Through ordination the priest is enabled to make present the eternal sacrifice of Christ, thus building up the Church in faith and love. The Pope's address was the 58th in the series on the Church and was given in Italian. 

1. The complete dimension of the presbyter's mission in relation to the Eucharist is understood if one considers that this sacrament is primarily the renewal, at the altar, of the sacrifice of the cross, the central moment in the work of redemption. Christ, the Priest and Victim, is as such the artisan of universal salvation, in obedience to the Father. He is the one High Priest of the new and eternal covenant, who by accomplishing our salvation offers perfect worship to the Father, a worship which ancient celebrations of the Old Testament merely prefigured. By the sacrifice of his own blood on the cross, Christ "entered once for all into the sanctuary, thus obtaining eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12). Thus he abolished every ancient sacrifice in order to establish a new one by offering himself to the Father's will (cf. Ps 40 [39]:9). "By this 'will', we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated" (Heb 10:10,14). In sacramentally renewing the sacrifice of the cross, the presbyter reopens that source of salvation in the Church and the entire world (cf. CCC, nn. 1362-1372). 

2. For this reason the 1971 Synod of Bishops, in accord with the documents of Vatican II, pointed out: "The priestly ministry reaches its summit in the celebration of the Eucharist, which is the source and centre of the Church's unity" (Enchiridion Vaticanum, IV, 1166; cf. Ad gentes, n. 39). 

The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church asserts: "It is in Eucharistic cult or in the Eucharistic assembly of the faithful that they exercise in a supreme degree their sacred functions; there, acting in the person of Christ and proclaiming his mystery they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the sacrifice of Christ their head, and in the sacrifice of the Mass they make present again and apply, until the coming of the Lord, the unique sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to the Father" (Lumen gentium, n. 28; cf. CCC, n. 1566). 

In this regard, the Decree Presbyterorum ordinis makes two fundamental assertions: a) the community is gathered by the proclamation of the Gospel so that all can make a spiritual offering of themselves; b) the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is made perfect through union with Christ's sacrifice, offered in an unbloody, sacramental manner by the hands of the priests. Their whole priestly ministry draws its force from this one sacrifice (cf. Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 2; cf. CCC, n. 1566). 

Priests are called to identify mystically with Christ

This shows the connection between the ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful. It also shows how the priest, among all the faithful, is especially called to identify himself mystically—as well as sacramentally—with Christ, in order to be himself in some way Sacerdos et Hostia, according to the beautiful expression of St Thomas Aquinas (cf. Summa Theol., III, q. 83, a. 1, ad 3). 

3. In the Eucharist the presbyter reaches the high point of his ministry when he pronounces Jesus' words: "This is my body.... This is the cup of my blood ...". These words concretize the greatest exercise of that power which enables the priest to make present the sacrifice of Christ. Then the community is truly built up and developed—in a sacramental way and, thus, with divine efficacy. The Eucharist is indeed the sacrament of communion and unity, as was asserted by the 1971 Synod of Bishops and more recently by the Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on some aspects of the Church understood as communion (cf. Communionis notio, n . 11). 

This is how one explains the piety and fervour with which saintly priests — about whom hagiography tells us abundantly— always celebrated Mass, not hesitating to make adequate preparation beforehand and afterwards to make suitable acts of thanksgiving. In order to help with making these acts the Missal offers appropriate prayers, often laudably printed on special cards in sacristies. We also know that on the theme of Sacerdos et Hostia various works of priestly spirituality have been written and can always be recommended to priests. 

4. Here is another essential point of Eucharistic-priestly theology, the subject of our catechesis: the whole ministry and all the sacraments are directed towards the Eucharist, in which "the whole spiritual good of the Church is contained (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., III, q. 65, a. 3, ad 1; q. 79, a. 1), namely Christ himself our Pasch and the living Bread which gives life to men through his flesh—that flesh which is given life and gives life through the Holy Spirit. Thus men are invited and led to offer themselves, their works and all creation with Christ" (Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 5). 

Sacramental life is directed towards the Eucharist

In the celebration of the Eucharist, therefore, the greatest participation takes place in the perfect worship which Christ the High Priest gives to the Father by representing and expressing the whole created order. The presbyter, who sees and recognizes that his life is thus deeply linked to the Eucharist, on the one hand feels the horizons of his spirit broadened on a global scale, embracing even heaven and earth, and on the other, is aware of the increased need and responsibility to impart this treasure—"the whole spiritual good of the Church"—to the community. 

5. Therefore, in the projects and programmes of his pastoral ministry, he keeps in mind that the sacramental life of the faithful is directed towards the Eucharist (cf. Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 5) and he will see to it that Christian formation aims at the active, conscious participation of the faithful in the Eucharistic celebration. 

Today it is necessary to rediscover the central importance of this celebration in Christian life and, thus, in the apostolate. The data on the Mass attendance of the faithful is not encouraging: although the zeal of many priests has led to a generally fervent and active participation, the attendance percentages remain low. It is true that in this area, more than in any other regarding the interior life, the value of statistics is quite relative; furthermore, it is not the structured, outward expression of worship that proves its real worth. 

Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the fact that outward worship is normally a logical consequence of what is inside (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., II-II, q. 81, a. 7), and, in the case of Eucharistic worship, it is a consequence of faith itself in Christ the Priest and his redeeming sacrifice. Nor would it be wise to minimize the importance of the celebration of worship by citing the fact that the vitality of the Christian faith is shown by conduct in complete conformity with the Gospel, rather than by ritual gestures. In fact, the Eucharistic celebration is not a mere ritual gesture: it is a sacrament, i.e., an intervention of Christ himself who communicates to us the dynamism of his love. It would be a pernicious illusion to claim that one is acting in accordance with the Gospel without receiving its strength from Christ himself in the Eucharist, the sacrament he instituted for this purpose. Such a claim would be a radically anti-Gospel attitude of self-sufficiency. The Eucharist gives Christians greater strength to live according to the demands of the Gospel; it makes them more fully members of the ecclesial community to which they belong; it renews and enriches in them the joy of communion in the Church. 

Promote Eucharistic worship outside of Mass 

Therefore, the priest will make every effort to encourage participation in the Eucharist by catechesis, pastoral exhortation and the excellent quality of the celebration in its liturgical and ceremonial aspect. He will thus succeed, as the Council stresses (Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 5), in teaching the faithful to offer the divine victim to God the Father in the sacrifice of the Mass and, in union with this victim, to make an offering of their own life in service to their brothers and sisters. The faithful will also learn to seek pardon for their sins, to meditate on the word of God, to pray with sincere hearts for all the needs of the Church and the world and to put all their trust in Christ the Saviour. 

6. Finally, I want to mention that the priest has the mission to promote the worship of the Eucharistic presence outside of the celebration of Mass too, by striving to make his own church a Christian "house of prayer": i.e., one in which, according to the Council, "the presence of the Son of God, our Saviour, offered for us on the sacrificial altar for the help and consolation of the faithful is worshiped" (Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 5). This house must be a worthy place for prayer and sacred functions both for its good order, cleanliness, the neatness with which it is maintained, and for the artistic beauty of its environment, which has a great importance for the way it forms and inspires prayer. For this reason the Council recommends that the priest "properly cultivate liturgical knowledge and art" (Presbyterorum ordinis, n. 5).

I have called attention to these aspects because they too belong to the complex picture of a good "care of souls" on the part of priests, particularly parish priests and all those responsible for churches and other places of worship. In any case, I stress the close connection between the priesthood and the Eucharist, as the Church teaches us, and I reaffirm with conviction and deep spiritual joy that the presbyter is above all the man of the Eucharist: Christ's servant and minister in this sacrament, in which—according to the Council, summarizing the teaching of the ancient Fathers and doctors—"the whole spiritual good of the Church is contained" (Presbyterorumordinis, n. 5); every priest, at any level, in any area of work, is the servant and minister of the paschal mystery accomplished on the cross and lived anew on the altar for the redemption of the world.