The interplay between them goes back to the Upper Room, where they were instituted
By Father Randy Stice
“All the sacraments are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed toward it. For in the most blessed Eucharist is contained the entire spiritual wealth of the Church, namely Christ himself.”1 In my May column, I looked at the relationship between the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation/penance. On June 7, Bishop Mark Beckman ordained two men to the priesthood, Father A.J. Houston and Father Renzo Alvarado Suarez, so in this column I want to discuss the relationship between the Eucharist and the sacrament of holy orders, specifically the priesthood.2
The Eucharist and the priesthood were both instituted at the Last Supper. “On the night before he died, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and at the same time established the priesthood of the New Covenant.”3 He instituted the Eucharist when He gave the disciples the bread and chalice and said, “This is my body” and “This is my blood,” and He instituted the priesthood when He commanded them, “Do this in remembrance of me.” St. John Paul II, reflecting on this command, wrote to priests, “As He pronounced the words ‘Do this…,’ Jesus’ thoughts extended to the successors of the Apostles, to those who would continue their mission by distributing the food of life to the very ends of the earth. In some way, then, dear brother priests, in the Upper Room we, too, were called personally, each one of us, ‘with brotherly love.’”4 Like the Eucharist, the priesthood is a mystery of faith. “The same mystery of sanctification and love, the work of the Holy Spirit, which makes the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, is at work in the person of the minister at the moment of priestly ordination. There is a particular interplay between the Eucharist and the priesthood, an interplay which goes back to the Upper Room: these two sacraments were born together, and their destiny is indissolubly linked until the end of the world.”5
The integral relationship between the Eucharist and the priesthood is emphasized in the formation program preparing men for the priesthood. Because ordination brings about a unique conformation to Christ, “‘candidates for ordination must, above all, be formed in a truly living faith in the Eucharist,’ in view of what they shall live after priestly ordination. Participation in the daily celebration of the Eucharist, which naturally flows into eucharistic adoration, should permeate the life of the seminarian in such a way that a constant union with the Lord may mature.”6 St. John Paul II wrote that seminarians “should be trained to consider the eucharistic celebration as the essential moment of their day, in which they will take an active part and at which they will never be satisfied with a merely habitual attendance.” They should also “be trained to share in the intimate dispositions which the Eucharist fosters: gratitude for heavenly benefits received, because the Eucharist is thanksgiving; an attitude of self-offering, which will impel them to unite the offering of themselves to the eucharistic offering of Christ; charity nourished by a sacrament, which is a sign of unity and sharing; the yearning to contemplate and bow in adoration before Christ, who is really present under the eucharistic species.”7
The rite of ordination to the priesthood, which is always celebrated within Mass, highlights the newly ordained priest’s relationship to the Eucharist. At the conclusion of the rite of ordination, the bishop presents the new priest with a paten holding the bread and a chalice containing the wine mixed with water for the celebration of the Mass. The new priest kneels before the bishop, who places them in the hands of the newly ordained and says, “Receive the oblation of the holy people to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord’s cross.”8 This signifies the priest’s “duty of presiding at the celebration of the Eucharist and of following Christ crucified.”9 St. John Paul II, in an address to priests, noted the intrinsic relationship between ordination and the Eucharist: “Through our ordination—the celebration of which is linked to the holy Mass from the very first liturgical evidence—we are united in a singular and exceptional way to the Eucharist. In a certain way we derive from it and exist for it.”10
The hallmark of the priestly ministry is pastoral charity, and this “finds its full expression and its supreme nourishment in the Eucharist.”11 The pastoral charity of every priest “flows out in a very special way from the eucharistic sacrifice. This stands as the root and center of the whole life of a priest. What takes place on the altar of sacrifice, the priestly heart must make his own. This cannot be done unless priests through prayer continue to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of Christ.”12 In addition, the priest receives from the Eucharist “the grace and obligation to give his whole life a ‘sacrificial’ dimension.”13
At the Last Supper, Jesus called the Apostles “friends” (John 15:16). In a letter to priests, St. John Paul II offered a beautiful description of Christ’s friendship with priests in the Eucharist: “Could Jesus have expressed his friendship for us [priests] in a more eloquent way than by allowing us, priests of the New Covenant, to act in His name? This is what happens in all our priestly service…especially when we celebrate the holy Eucharist. We repeat the words spoken by Him over the bread and wine, and, through our ministry we effect the same consecration as effected by Christ. Can there be a more complete expression of friendship than this? This is what is at the very core of our priestly ministry.”14
1 Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, 5
2 The sacrament of holy orders comprises three degrees, two degrees of ministerial participation in the priesthood of Christ—bishops and priests—and the diaconate, intended to help and serve them (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1554).
3 The Sacrament of Charity, 23
4 Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday, 2004
5 Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday, 2004
6 The Gift of the Priestly Vocation, The Congregation for Clergy, 104
7 I Will Give You Shepherds, St. John Paul II, 48
8 Ordination of a Bishop, of Priests, and of Deacons, 163
9 Ordination of a Bishop, of Priests, and of Deacons, 113
10 Dominicae Cenae, 2. “The Church teaches that priestly ordination is the indispensable condition for the valid celebration of the Eucharist,” The Sacrament of Charity, 23
11 I Will Give You Shepherds, 23
12 Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, 14
13 I Will Give You Shepherds, 23
14 Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday, 1997
Father Randy Stice is director of the diocesan Office of Worship and Liturgy. He can be reached at frrandy@dioknox.org.
