From the moment of Jesus’ conception in the womb of Mary until His Resurrection, He was filled with Holy Spirit. In biblical language, He was anointed by the Holy Spirit and thus established by God the Father as our high priest.

While all baptized share in Christ’s priesthood, the ministerial priesthood shares this through the Sacrament of Holy Orders in a special way.

The Church adopted the term order from its use in the Roman Empire, where it referred to a governing group. In the Sacrament of Holy Orders, there are three degrees or “orders”: bishop, priest, and deacon. The rite of ordination is the sacramental act that makes this possible. Ordination “confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a ‘sacred power’… which can come only from Christ Himself through the Church” (CCC, no. 1538).

Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on the Cross was a priestly act of perfect self-offering accepted by the Father and culminating in His resurrection from the dead so that, as Risen Lord and High Priest, He continues to offer salvation to all.

By Baptism, all members of the Church share in Christ’s holy priesthood. It is called “the common priesthood of the faithful” because the entire Church shares in it. To build up this priesthood, Christ gives to His Church the ordained ministries of bishops, priests, and deacons through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

“The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful. The ordained ministers exercise their service for the People of God by teaching (munus docendi), divine worship (munus liturgicum) and pastoral governance (mumus regendi)” (CCC, no. 1592).

The ordained bishop and priest serve the Church in the person of Christ as head of the Body.

The Sacrament does not preserve the ordained from weakness and sin, but the Holy Spirit guarantees that the minister’s sin does not impede the effectiveness of the Sacrament and its graces. The ordained are called to a holiness of life and an attitude of humility that conforms them to Christ whose priesthood they share. The priest acts not only in the person of Christ, the Head of the Church, but also in the name of the Church when presenting to God the prayers of the Church, especially in the Eucharist.

The Church has the power to determine the way in which the Sacraments are to be celebrated, but she has no ability to change the essential aspects established by the Lord Jesus. Sacramental signs are natural, but they also carry a divine meaning. Just as the Eucharist is not only a communal meal, but also makes present the saving sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, so too ministerial priesthood is more than pastoral service: it ensures the continuity of the ministry Christ entrusted to the Apostles.

The priesthood has a sacramental nature. The priest is a sign of what is happening. Sacramental signs represent what they signify by a natural resemblance. This resemblance is as true for persons as for things. When the priest acts in the person of Christ, He takes on the role of Christ, to the point of being his representative. He is a sign of what is happening and must be a sign that is recognizable which the faithful can see with ease.

Ordination to the priesthood is always a call and a gift from God. Christ reminded His Apostles that they needed to ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. Those who seek priesthood respond generously to God’s call using the words of the prophet, “Here I am, send me” (Is 6:8).

The Sacrament of Holy Orders, like that of Baptism and Confirmation, confers an indelible or permanent character on the recipient. This means that this Sacrament cannot be received again. The indelible character is a reminder to the bishop, priest, or deacon that the vocation and mission he received on the day od his ordination marks him permanently. Like Baptism and Confirmation, which also confer a permanent character, Holy Orders is never repeated.  

A bishop is given the grace to teach in the name of Christ; to sanctify the Church through the celebration of the Sacraments; to guide, govern, and defend the Church; and to be a sign of the unity of the Church.

  -taken from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

Prayer to Know One's Vocation
 

 Lord, my God and my loving Father, you have made me to know you, to love you, to serve you, and thereby to find and to fulfill my deepest longings. I know that you are in all things, and that every path can lead me to you. 

But of them all, there is one especially by which you want me to come to you. Since I will do what you want of me, I pray you, send your Holy Spirit to me: into my mind, to show me what you want of me; into my heart, to give me the determination to do it, and to do it with all my love, with all my mind, and with all of my strength right to the end. Jesus, I trust in you. Amen