The Priesthood: A Terrible Glory

Do we really appreciate what the sacred priesthood is? To quote Fr. Mark:

The instant I became a priest, a kind of incarnation took place -- to use the phrase of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity -- I began to participate in the Mediatorship of Christ, becoming a priest in my very substance, by all that I am, and by my entire being. It follows from this that all my actions are priestly actions. This is the terrible and inescapable glory of the priesthood: that it cannot be laid aside, even for a moment. The terrible glory of the priesthood can be disfigured, defiled, and dragged into the depths of the most sinful degeneracy. It remains a terrible glory: a mysterious reality that marks the priest in this life and in the next, either for his eternal beatitude or his eternal torment.

I really do not think we pray enough for our priests. I know that I don't.