Priest as Victim

The priest has many vocations, but his primary calling is to offer sacrifice. Does he also understand that he himself is called to be the sacrifice?
Only when the man on his way to ordination comprehends his mission can he set out to fulfill his vocation well, to face the opposition that always comes when good men confront a world swamped with evil — and that vocation is one of suffering, of offering sacrifice and of himself being sacrificed. Seminarians must keep this understanding foremost in their minds.

In 1963, Abp. Fulton Sheen wrote a book titled "The Priest Is Not His Own." In it, he mentioned the various functions of the priest — leader, teacher, servant, spiritual father — but drove home the point that no role more truly defines the priest than that of victim.

Pagan people, without knowing it explicitly, sensed the truth that "unless blood is shed, there can be no remission of sins" (Heb. 9:22). From the earliest times, through the kings and priests, they offered animals, and sometimes even humans, to turn away the anger of the gods. As in the Levitical priesthood, however, the victim was always separate from the priest.The sacrifice was a vicarious one, the animal representing and taking the place of the guilty humans, who thus sought to expiate their guilt in the shedding of blood.

The separation of victim — who atones for sins — from priest — who offers the sacrifice — was the hallmark of pagan offerings. What distinguishes Christianity from the pagan cults is the union of the one being sacrificed with the one who offers sacrifice — in Jesus Christ, Who is both Priest and Victim.
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