Our Lord Jesus Christ clothed His Apostles with His own powers: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." Those who receive His Apostles receive Him. Those who reject them, reject Him: "He that despiseth you, despiseth Me." (Luke 10:16.) The exalted dignity of the priest is derived not from his own personal merits, but from the sublime office he holds and the sublime functions he is charged to perform. "Let a man so account of us," says St. Paul, "as ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the Mysteries of God." (Cor. 4:1.) And again St. Paul writes: "For Christ we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us." (2 Cor. 5:20.)

It is by the reception of the Sacrament of Holy Orders that a priest is ordained to his high office. The principal powers he receives are: the power to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and the power to forgive sins in the Sacrament of Penance. The Sacrament also confers special graces on him to carry out his sacred duties and to preach the Gospel. A Bishop when appointed to rule over a diocese receives special consecration. The Bishop alone can confer the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Bishop also is the ordinary minister of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Under certain circumstances, this faculty is given to the Parish Priest. The Chrism used must always be consecrated by a Bishop.

The Duties of the Faithful
The laity have duties towards their Bishops and Priests. These duties may be summed up as: Respect; Obedience; Help; Prayer.
(1) Respect: No man can reflect with faith on the various titles given to priests, and the functions laid on them, without being moved to the highest reverence for their character and work.
(2) Obedience: St. Paul writes: "Obey your prelates; and be subject to them, for they watch as being to render an account of your souls; that they may do this with joy and not with grief. (Heb. 13:17.) Hence the people should also show sympathy with their pastor's priestly zeal.
(3) Help: Sympathy will always show itself actively by rendering, according to means or opportunities, both material help and spiritual co-operation.
(4) Prayer: This is a means by which all, men, women and children, strong and weak, sick and well, can co-operate with their pastors.
Source: Rev. W. Frean.

The Priesthood is Christ's redeeming divinity en-fleshed in the Priest's humanity. Such a life is not natural. It is supernatural. It is the most supernatural life on earth. "To live in the midst of the world with no desire for its pleasures; to be a member of every family yet belonging to none; to share all sufferings, to penetrate all secrets, to heal all wounds, to go daily from men to God to offer Him their homage and petitions; to return from God to men, to bring them His pardon and His hope; to have a heart of iron for chastity and a heart of flesh for charity; to teach and instruct, to pardon and console, to bless and to be blessed for ever. Oh God! what a life, and 'tis thine', oh Priest of Jesus Christ."  (Lacordaire)