Dette satte Vatikanets informasjonstjeneste som overskrift (PRIESTS’ EUCHARISTIC-SACRIFICIAL MISSION IS INSEPARABLE FROM THEIR PASTORAL MISSION) på et referat av messen i Peterskirken søndag 29. april, der pave Benedikt ordinerte tre menn til prestetjeneste. Jeg leste denne nyheten på NLM-bloggen, der jeg også fant bildet. I sin preken sa paven bl.a.:
… for priests, celebrating Mass every day does not mean merely undertaking a ritual function, but accomplishing a mission which involves all of existence, in communion with the risen Christ Who continues to enact the redeeming sacrifice in His Church».
The Holy Father went on to note that «Eucharistic and sacrificial aspects are inseparable from the pastoral aspect, of which they are the nucleus of truth and salvific strength upon which the effectiveness of all activity depends. … The preaching, works and other activities which the Church carries out with her many initiatives would lose their salvific fruitfulness if the celebration of Christ’s sacrifice were lacking. This celebration is entrusted to ordained priests. … Only through the ‘door’ of the Paschal sacrifice can men and women of all times and places enter eternal life. It is through this ‘holy path’ that they can make the exodus which leads them to the ‘promised land’ of true freedom, to the ‘green fields’ of endless peace and joy. …