The Imitation of Christ and the Year of the Priest pt. 1

From the Imitation of Christ, book 4, chapter 5:On the Dignity of the Sacrament and on the Priestly Office.

Christ: If you had the purity of an Angel and the holiness of St. John the Baptist, you would not be worthy to receive or to touch this holy Sacrament. No human being has merited to be able to consecrate and touch the Sacrament of Christ, or to receive the Bread of Angels as food.

This is a tremendous mystery, and great is the dignity conferred on priests, which is not granted to the Angels. For only priests, validly ordained in the Church, have this power of offering Holy Mass and consecrating the Body of Christ.

The priest stands in the place of Christ, using God's word according to His command and institution; but God Himself is the principal Author and unseen Worker in this Sacrament. To Him is subject all the He wills to be, and everything obeys His command.

My comments:This passage has given me a great deal to think about in the past few days. Thomas a Kempis reminds us that it is never the physical person who is the one bringing about the sacred mysteries on his own power. It is always Christ who accomplishes the work of salvation.