Romans 12:1
I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
A priest is not somebody who writes the checks to the utility company for the parish. A priest is not a guy in an uncomfortable collar. A priest is not somebody who gets to veto the parish council's ideas arbitrarily. A priest is not somebody who has to figure out how on earth the parish water bill is going to get paid this month. A priest is not a guy who stands in the vestibule and shakes hands with folks after a religious service. A priest is not somebody who gets to wield terrifying power over cowed religious folk. A priest is one who offers sacrifice. That's it. That's all. A priest may do all these other things. But anybody could do these things and he would not need to be a priest to do them. Ask any parish administrator. The only thing essential to priesthood is the offering of sacrifice. And the only sacrifice a true priest can offer is the sacrifice which God has ordained: the sacrifice of Christ. Therefore, every baptized person is participating in some way in the sacrifice of Christ, since that's the only sacrifice there is. An ordained priest (the kind with the collar) offers that sacrifice in a unique way in the Eucharist, which is a participation in the fullness of that sacrifice since it is Jesus Christ Himself. But all of us, when we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, are joined to that sacrifice, which is the source and summit of our worship.
