“There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist”
(cf. Gift and Mystery. On the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination, New York, 1996, pp.77-78).
The priesthood is important and necessary in the lives of the people. No one person or thing can ever replace the priesthood. It is a cause of change in the lives of the people.
It’s possible to find yourself amazed and overwhelmed before the extraordinary reality of the priesthood, so deep is the humility by which God stoops down from heaven in order to unite himself with man! If we feel moved before the Christmas crib, or when we contemplate the Incarnation of the Word, what must we feel before the altar where, by the poor hands of the priest, Christ makes his Sacrifice present in time? We can only fall to our knees and silently adore this supreme mystery of faith.