Our priests act in the person of Christ

The Saturday after Memorial Day is a very special one for me. Each year our priests begin their annual retreat on Memorial Day and we conclude the retreat week with the Ordination Mass in the cathedral. It is difficult for me to express in words how blessed I feel to be able to ordain a new priest. It is one of the greatest joys of any bishop.
This year on Saturday, June 3 Deacon Thomas LaPointe will be ordained a priest and Mr. Joseph Schultz will be ordained a transitional deacon. How good God is to us that these two men have discerned a call to ordained ministry and that the Church has confirmed that call.
A few weeks ago I wrote in my "The Catholic Week" article about the priesthood of the laity and that all the members of the Church, because of our baptism, share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Having written about our universal priesthood, allow me in this article to reflect briefly upon the ordained priesthood of our priests.
We need our priests. Uniquely among the People of God, priests act in the person of Christ: in persona Christi. In a singular fashion they link God and man.  They are neither like the laity nor aloof from the laity but in service to God’s people in ways that cannot be undertaken by others. The more people realize their authentic responsibilities in the Church and live out their universal priesthood, the clearer they realize the essential importance of the role of the priests as the dispensers of the mysteries of salvation in the person of Christ Himself. 
Our priests are a great blessing to the Church. They serve the Church by divine institution. By their ordination they become configured to Christ in a way we will never fully understand in this life. The Church needs her priests. No matter how the role of the laity develops, and the Holy Spirit seems to be calling for a further development of the role of the laity, our priests provide Eucharist, reconciliation, and shepherding which no other members of the Church can offer. Through the hands of the priest the very presence of Jesus Christ is mediated to God’s people. We must never forget how uniquely essential our priests are to all the people of the Church. Please pray for your priests.
As written in an anonymous essay entitled, You Are a Priest Forever, described a priest:
To live in the midst of the world, without wishing its pleasures; to be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; to share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers; to return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; to have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity; to teach and to pardon, console and bless always — What a glorious life! And it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ!
How blessed we are by our priests who dedicate their lives in service to God’s people.
If anyone reading this article has not been present for an ordination Mass, I urge you to consider attending one. The Mass is a beautiful intermingling of joy and liturgical symbols which lifts spirits and gives such hope to the members of the Church as a new priest begins his service for us and with us. This year’s ordination Mass is Saturday, June 3, at 10 a.m. in the cathedral.
All are invited. If you cannot be present, please remember to pray for Thomas and Joseph as they begin their ministry as priest and deacon. And please pray that God will place in the hearts of more men the call to serve as ordained priests and that they may have the trust in God to respond to His call.