“The Church condemns the weakness, the deviance and the abuses carried out by priests, about which we are also sorry”. Those words were spoken by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, during the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday. “Admitting our weakness, imperfections and limits – stated Twal - is the first and most important step. Our confession and humbleness are a good example. Pardon of the Lord and the herd's understanding help us and encourage us to be ‘one thing with Christ’, to be ‘other Christs’”. In his homily, while addressing the priests present, the patriarch recalled that “in spite of our human limits, the priesthood of Christ gives us the dignity to offer ourselves to God as ‘living and holy sacrifice, appreciated by God’, the expression of our spiritual, that is, rational cult. Without priesthood, the Passion and death of Christ would remain inaccessible to us, just a simple memory of a distant past, without any modernity or effectiveness for our lives. With no priesthood – he concluded - the work of Redemption does not continue and is not effective”.

© SIR - april, 1 2010