What
makes
Christ
the
Priest
unlike
any
other
priest,
either
from the
Old
Testament
or from
any
other
cult, is
that his
priestly
sacrifice
is he,
himself.
But that
uniqueness
is also
the
calling
shared
by
priests
and
laity,
to
"imitate
that
which is
celebrated"
every
day at
Mass.
"To be a
priest
'according
to the
order of
Jesus
Christ,'
the
presbyter
must,
like
him,
offer
himself,"
Father
Cantalamessa
said.
"On the
altar,
he does
not only
represent
the
Jesus
[who is]
'high
priest,'
but also
the
Jesus
[who is]
'supreme
victim,'
the two
things
being,
moreover,
inseparable.
In other
words he
cannot
be
content
to offer
Christ
to the
Father
in the
sacramental
signs of
bread
and
wine,
he must
also
offer
himself
with
Christ
to the
Father."
The
preacher
shared
his own
experience
of this
sacrifice:
"As a
priest
ordained
by the
Church,
I
pronounce
the
words of
the
consecration
'in
persona
Christi,'
I
believe
that,
thanks
to the
Holy
Spirit,
they
have the
power of
changing
the
bread
into the
body of
Christ
and the
wine
into his
blood;
at the
same
time, as
member
of the
body of
Christ
[...] I
look at
the
brethren
before
me or,
if I
celebrate
on my
own, I
think of
them
whom I
must
serve
during
the day
and,
turning
to them,
I say
mentally
together
with
Jesus:
'Brothers
and
sisters,
take,
eat,
this is
my body;
take,
drink,
this is
my
blood.'"
Father
Cantalamessa
clarified
that
this
mutual
offering
is
necessary.
"Let us
try to
imagine
what
would
happen
if also
the
laity,
at the
moment
of the
consecration,
said
silently:
'Take,
eat,
this is
my body.
Take,
drink,
this is
my
blood,'"
he
proposed.
"A
mother
of a
family
thus
celebrates
her
Mass,
then she
goes
home and
begins
her day
made up
of a
thousand
little
things.
But what
she does
is not
nothing:
It is a
eucharist
together
with
Jesus!
A
[religious]
sister
also
says in
her
heart at
the
moment
of
consecration:
'Take,
eat
...';
then she
goes to
her
daily
work:
children,
the
sick,
the
elderly.
The
Eucharist
'invades'
her day
which
becomes
a
prolongation
of the
Eucharist."
