Who is the one who prepares the Holy Eucharist for us and gives Our Lord to us? It is the priest. If there were no priests, there would be no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, nor Holy Communion, nor the Real Presence of Jesus in the tabernacle.
And who is the priest? He is the "man of God" (2 Tim. 3:17). It is God alone who chooses him and calls him from among men for a very special task. "No man takes the honor to himself; he takes it who is called by God, as Aaron was" (Heb. 5:4). God sets him apart from everyone else "to preach the Gospel of God" (Rom. 1:1). God signs him with a sacred character that will endure forever, making him "a priest forever" (Heb. 5:6) and bestowing on him the supernatural powers of the ministerial priesthood so that he is consecrated exclusively for the things of God. The priest, being "taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins" (Heb. 5:1-2).
~ From Jesus Our Eucharistic Love by Fr. Stefano Manelli ~
Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.
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