Kapłaństwo – dar i tajemnica

Abstract

The Year for Priests concluded on 11 June 2010 was a special opportunity for the Church to reflect on priesthood in the changing situation. Contemporary attempts made by priests to give priority to ago over esse (acting over being) urgently require thinking over the essence of priesthood again with respect to that esse; and in this task defining it as a gift and mystery may be helpful. Such a definition of priesthood is not a new thing, but also today it may be considered a topical key for understanding its essence. The Holy Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church emphasize that the gift of God is the source of priesthood and its nature. The gift is presented to the very person who is ordained, but also to the Church, or even to the whole mankind. The statement saying that priesthood is a gift also leads to recognizing a mystery in it. It is the mystery of God’s love why He summons only some people, and not others; why He grants his grace only to some people. The gift of priesthood is a mystery also in the sense that it makes one able to celebrate God’s mysteries. The particular connection between the ordained person and Christ is a mystery, which is expressed in the statement that a priest acts in persona Christi. If priesthood is God’s gift and at the same time a mystery of God’s choice, one may not demand it as if it were his due right. Nobody possesses the right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. It is God’s gift that is the foundation of priest’s service and of this exceptional dignity of the one who accepts the gift. At the same time the gift gives rise to obligations on the part of the one who is presented with this dignity, but also on the part of all those to whom the service is directed. It requires agreement and cooperation from the one who receives the gift. The duties of the community are reduced to accepting the gift with gratitude. Talking about priesthood as of a gift and a mystery is ultimately a defense of the primacy of grace in the priestly vocation. It also agrees with the whole vision of moral life based on a gift and demanding a free answer from a man.