CAPG's Blog 

The priest of the Catholic Church is greater than the prophets. The prophets beheld the Redeemer only from afar, in the dim future. The Catholic priest beholds him present before his eyes; he touches the long-wished-for Redeemer with his hands; he offers him up to his heavenly Father;he carries him through the streets; he even feeds on the sacred flesh and blood of the Holy one; he receives Him into his heart, and unites himself most intimately to Him in Holy Communion.

The prophets foretold that, when the fullness of times should come, God would write His laws, not on stone, but on men's hears; he would govern men, not by the law of servile fear, but by the sweet bonds of holy love; that God Himself would dwell in them, and direct them by His grace. Now, this fullness of time for which the prophets sighed, came with Jesus Christ. He gave His grace, His own divine life, to man, and He gave it super-abundantly; and as the ministers of that grace, He chose, not the prophets, not his angels, but the priests of the Catholic Church. O Ineffable dignity!

The Catholic priest has the Patriarchal dignity of Abraham. Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful. The priest is, in reality, the father of the faithful; he makes them the children of God, by preaching the Gospel, and especially by the holy sacrament of baptism. The priest stands at the helm of the Church - the ark of salvation like Noah. He is consecrated forever, according to the order of Melchizedek, he is invested with a dignity far higher that that of Aaron. Aaron offered up only the blood of sheep and oxen, while the priest offers up the Blood of the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The priest has the authority of Moses. Moses led the people of God through the desert, to the promised land; the priest leads the children of God through the desert of this life, to the true land of promise - their home in heaven.

Source: The Catholic Priest by Fr. Michael Muller, 1885