“Do you go to Burger King?” This is the strangest question I got from a CCD student, that eventually prompted me to write some facets of our life as priests and how, like you, we strive to become faithful to our Lord as well.
Since we are celebrating the year of the priest, I would like to share with you some aspects of our life and what our priesthood entails. Many of you may be wondering, “what do our priests do inside the rectory, what do they eat? Or do they cook? – (I can emphatically say you bet with Fr. Frank’s delicious cuisine, gee! –after tasting his food, maybe you’ll like to live with us). In our parish church you see us celebrating the sacraments,“dressed up” in our liturgical clothing (alb, Chasuble and stole). However, outside our liturgical functions, you will see us casually dressed in jeans, shirts, and sneakers and for some it is quite a surprise though not scandalous. Dressing up casually never fails to solicit an almost rhetorical statement of awe: ‘Wow, priests can actually dress up casually too.” Whether we are dressed up in priestly robes or not, there is one robe that we cannot remove and that is our identity (configuration) with Jesus Christ.
Friends, we do eat, we do need clothes, we drink water and we do feel, just like any other human being. We are human, subject to human conditions and most specially with human faculties, but entrusted with a divine mission. We did not just come down from heaven. This may lead you to ask: “What is the priesthood?” Priests by sacred ordination and the mission they receive from the bishops, are promoted to the service of Christ the Teacher, Priest and King. They share in his ministry, which the Church here on earth is unceasingly built up into the People of God, the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. (P.O. Pope Paul VI).
Priests are entrusted of God’s work on earth.. It is very clear that the priests main mission is to take good care of God’s people in their spiritual needs. According to St. John Vianney, French parish priest who lived in the 18th century and who is venerated in our church as the patron saint of all priests, the priest is a man who holds the place of God — a man who is invested with all the powers of 
God. “Go,” said Our Lord to the priest; “as My Father sent Me, I send you. All power has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Go then, teach all nations. . . . He who listens to you, listens to Me; he who despises you despises Me. “When the priest remits sins, he does not say, “God pardons you”; he says, “I absolve you. ” At the Consecration, he does not say, “This is the Body of Our Lord;” he says, “This is My Body. “
Therefore, priests according to their functions are called to preach the Gospel, to celebrate the sacraments and to configure themselves to Christ at all times.. We are called in the strict sense to carry on our ministry for our sanctification and most specially for the sanctification of the people of God.
Since the Church is celebrating the year of the priests, I think it would be beneficial to write reflections on a weekly or biweekly basis. I would be able to share with you about some words of the Church about the priesthood and what responsibilities it entails. I promise not to be dense and I will hope to offer you some knowledge about the priesthood and our need for your prayers.