Abstract / DOI
Jesus, the Priest. The common priesthood of all faithful and the special priesthood of ministry are founded in the priesthood of Jesus, which is condensed in the Eucharist. In his entire saving work, Jesus realises the priestly task of the Messiah to bestow God’s blessing on people and to reconcile them with God. – The Last Supper, in which Jesus’ blessing and thanksgiving is connected with the gift of himself in bread and wine, makes present this mission of salvation. It has eschatological significance; therefore the priesthood of Jesus himself and that of his discipleship is also eschatological. It is radically divorced from the pagan cults, which are part of the political system, but also qualitatively different from the temple cult of Israel, which is soteriologically transformed in the Eucharist. In this perspective, Eucharistic faith proves to be both a necessary and sufficient criterion of belonging both to the priestly people of God and to the priesthood of the sacramental ordo.