" For you as a priest, what is the most beautiful aspect of your vocation?

Cardinal Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, in an interview with Zenit, answers this question; here's an extract :

"This question brings to mind something from St. Francis of Assisi. He once said, "If I were to meet on the road a priest and an angel, I would first greet the priest and then the angel. Why? Because the priest is the one who gives us Christ in the Eucharist." This is what is most fundamental and marvelous: The priest has the gift and the grace of God to be a minister of the this great mystery of the Eucharist.

The priesthood was instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper. When he said, "Do this in memory of me," he gave to the apostles this commend and also the power to do this, to do the same thing that Jesus did at the Last Supper. And those apostles have in turn transmitted this ministry and this divine power to the men who are bishops and priests.

This is what is most important and at the center. The Eucharist is the center of the Church. Pope John Paul II said that the Church lives off the Eucharist. The priest is the minister of this great sacrament, which is the memorial of the death of Jesus."