By celebrating Eucharist, priests will attract vocations, pope says

Published: 2004-04-06

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II prayed that the more than 400,000 Catholic priests in the world would never take for granted the mystery and blessing of being able to celebrate the Eucharist. In promoting vocations to the priesthood, "your own witness counts more than anything else," the pope told priests in his annual Holy Thursday message to them. The message, released April 6 at the Vatican, focused particularly on how priests can encourage vocations among altar boys by the way they live, pray and celebrate Mass. "In your hands they see the Eucharist 'take place,' on your face they see its mystery reflected, and in your heart they sense the summons of a great love," the pope wrote. The Holy Thursday remembrance of Jesus' Last Supper marks the institution of both the Eucharist and the priesthood, Pope John Paul said. "These two sacraments were born together and their destiny is indissolubly linked until the end of the world."

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .