The Call to Holiness applies to all Catholics, but in a special way to priests, men who have a very special role in the Church, leading the faithful closer to God. Because of this mission, priests must preach by example, they must show the faithful how to answer their own Call to Holiness. This summons is a call to come closer to God, and Catholics do this especially through liturgical prayer and reception of the Sacraments. Therefore, in order to lead the faithful to God, a priest must frequent the Sacraments of the Church, and prayerfully listen to God's Word speaking to him in the Sacred Scripture revealed in the Liturgy, and in doing so being able to communicate its meaning to his flock.

All Catholics are called to be holy. Lumen Gentium states that "It is... quite clear that all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love." This holiness is attained by living "...as is proper among the saints" (Ephesians 5:3). To come closer to God, in addition to the avoidance of evil and repentance from evil committed, Catholics must make an effort to find God in his Divine Word, and in his presence in the Holy Eucharist. Both God's presence in the Eucharist and in Scripture are found in the Liturgy, which "...moves the faithful filled with the paschal sacraments to be one in holiness" (Sacrosanctum Concilium). Not only does the Liturgy make Catholics holy, but it also keeps them holy: "it prays that they hold fast in their lives to what they have grasped by their faith... [and] sets them aflame with Christ's insistent love" (Ibid.). Sacred Scripture and the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist are essential to the ordinary Catholic. How are they more important to a priest?

Understanding the extreme importance of the preaching of Scripture and the Sacraments for a priest begins with the understanding that the Call to Holiness has special meaning for priests. The Code of Canon Law's Canon 276 binds priests to live a life of holiness based on Scripture and the Eucharist: "...clerics are especially bound to pursue holiness because they are consecrated to God... They are to nourish their spiritual life from the two-fold table of Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist..." Because of this nourishment, they are able to give the Word of God to the people of God. The Canon goes on to state that priests "are to be conscientious... in approaching the sacrament of penance frequently." Priests are obviously singled out by Canon Law to be holy. In fact, they are consecrated to God. How does this consecrated relationship differ from the relationship every Catholic should have with God?

Each vocation carries with it gifts and responsibilities by which it differs from other callings. The priesthood has its own set of unique gifts and parallel duties. Lumen Gentium states that each person "according to his own gifts and duties must steadfastly advance along the way of a living faith, which arouses hope and works through love." Not only is a priest given special graces by God because of his consecration, but he is also given a vast set of duties. Canon 276 explains why priests must work harder to be holy by saying that they are "dispensers of God's mysteries in the service of his people." Priests are the conduit through which God's graces flow to his people, and because of this they must strive to be exemplars of the grace given by the Sacraments they celebrate and the Word they preach.

Not only are priests responsible for their own salvation, but they are also to answer for the salvation of their flocks. This tremendous responsibility, in a sense, takes away the priest's free will, for not only do his decisions affect his salvation, but the salvation of his flock as well. If a priest were to go astray, he would lead his flock astray as well. This weighty responsibility must affect all the choices priests make. Priests "have the duty to pray and offer sacrifice for their people and for the whole People of God, appreciating what they do and imitating what they touch with their hands" (Lumen Gentium). Priests, by virtue of their consecration to God, have the duty to do that which every Catholic must do: pray for those around him. In addition, priests must attempt to become worthy to act in Persona Christi. How could a human being ever become worthy to act in the person of Christ?

No Catholic can be justified on his own, for it is only through Christ that one becomes free from the bonds of sin, perfected and conformed to the image of the Saviour. "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family" (Romans 8:29). Those who are called to the priesthood of Christ receive special grace in order that they may be the Shepherds of the Flock, the firstborn of the family of God's people. This grace is received through the conduit of the Sacraments, starting with the Sacrament of Holy Orders, and continuing throughout his priestly existence with Confession and the Holy Eucharist.

Acting in Persona Christi must surely be the pinnacle of priestly life. What could possibly bring a priest closer to his Saviour than acting in his very person? Sacrosanctum Concilium states that "the liturgy... is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ." To carry out the duty of acting in the person of his Saviour, a priest must be prepared by receiving the very gifts he gives his flock as their shepherd. The first of these sources of grace is the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for it is through being forgiven their human sin that priests become more like the sinless Christ they must exemplify to be holy. To strengthen themselves for the tasks laid before them as priests, these men must gain solace and support from the Word of God, given for that purpose in the Liturgy of the Word, in order to verbalize its meaning. Last, but by far the greatest, the summit of priestly existence, is the Eucharist; this ultimate gift of Christ, his very self, must be the source and summit of a priest's life. It must be from the celebration and reception of the Christ that the priest is given the strength to grow in holiness, and in doing so, to fulfill his priestly duties of preaching and celebrating the Sacraments.

Priests are especially bound to attain holiness by their very mission as
Alter Christus. The Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist, as well as a prayerful reading of Sacred Scripture provide the grace and strength by which a priest preach God's Word, and celebrate him in his Sacraments, attaining salvation for himself, and bringing that salvation Christ won for all to all God's people. In order for a priest to act in the person of Christ as another Christ, he must attempt to exemplify Christ in everything. By the grace of God, received in the Sacraments and through Scripture, the priest will succeed, and be able to fulfill his duty as a priest.