Ordination

The Ordination of the minister of the gospel is celebrated for the sake of all the other sacraments. It is given to those men and women who undertake to become celebrants of the sacraments and preachers of the Gospel. It is essential to the nature of the sacraments that they are spiritual-physical acts beyond human power to perform. 

No one out of their individual will or capacities could bring them about. Everyone who is called to become a celebrant must be placed in a stream of spiritual grace. The Sacrament of Ordination is the means by which a candidate for the minister of the gospel can be endowed with this grace of God. 

Upon receiving it, they make a vow to undertake the holy task of celebrating the sacraments for the rest of their life. The vow is the answer to the spiritual gift of the power to celebrate. Such a grace is not a personal gift; it is given for the sake of the sacraments and of all those who wish to take part in them. Once given, it brings the obligation to use it in the service of Christianity and to continue so doing until death itself ends the task.

  
Even from this one fact it is clear what an important moment this is in the life of the one who is consecrated. No kind of work is more binding, none affects the life and destiny of those who undertake it more deeply. Without exaggeration it can be said that Ordination is the most decisive turning point in a lifetime. 

It does not mean taking up a new job so much as taking up a new life. One may wonder: How can anyone face so binding a decision for so long in these days of uncertainty, when no one can see what the next year will bring, and few people can be sure of their own ability to make up their minds about any important matter. But it can be done when the decision comes out of the spirit, from God. The usual pros and cons about starting new work whether it will be well paid and lead to promotion, whether it will make one happy, or satisfy one’s family, about whether one has the talents and aptitude for it, are of no use in deciding whether or not to enter the priesthood. Such considerations can only hinder the decision. 

The Christian Community is as much a pioneer movement as the early Christian Church. Its worldly advantages are small. But it offers an opportunity of a kind most rare in our present time, that is to say, the opportunity to devote oneself, with every energy, to work which can only begin out of a high spiritual decision. It is the opportunity to dedicate one’s self and one’s life to the progress of Christianity.