Here is where I am trying to go with this
This power of order was committed by our Lord to His Apostles, who were to continue His work and to be His earthly representatives. The Apostles received their power from Christ: “as the Father hath sent me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Christ possessed fullness of power in virtue of His priesthood–of His office as Redeemer and Mediator. He merited the grace which freed man from the bondage of sin, which grace is applied to man mediately by the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and immediately by the sacraments. He gave His Apostles the power to offer the Sacrifice (Luke 22:19), and dispense the sacraments (Matthew 28:18; John 20:22, 23); thus making them priests. It is true that every Christian receives sanctifying grace which confers on him a priesthood. Even as Israel under the Old dispensation was to God “a priestly kingdom” (Exodus 19:4-6), thus under the New, all Christians are “a kingly priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9); but now as then the special and sacramental priesthood strengthens and perfects the universal priesthood (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3, 6; Romans 15:16).
We read of the deacons, how the Apostles “praying, imposed hands upon them” (Acts 6:6). In II Tim., i, 6 St. Paul reminds Timothy that he was made a bishop by the imposition of St. Paul’s hands (cf. 1 Timothy 4:4), and Timothy is exhorted to appoint presbyters by the same rite (1 Timothy 5:22; cf. Acts 13:3; 14:22). In Clem., “Hom.”, III, lxxii, we read of the appointment of Zachæus as bishop by the imposition of Peter’s hands. The word is used in its technical meaning by Clement of Alexandria (“Strom.”, VI, xiii, cvi; cf. “Const. Apost.”, II, viii, 36). “A priest lays on hands, but does not ordain” (cheirothetei ou cheirotonei) “Didasc. Syr.”, IV; III, 10, 11, 20; Cornelius, “Ad Fabianum” in Euseb., “Hist. Eccl.”, VI, xliii.
Grace was attached to this external sign and conferred by it. “I admonish thee, that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee, through (dia) the imposition of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). The context clearly shows that there is question here of a grace which enables Timothy to rightly discharge the office imposed upon him, for St. Paul continues “God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of sobriety.” This grace is something permanent, as appears from the words “that thou stir up the grace which is in thee”; we reach the same conclusion from I Tim., iv, 14, where St. Paul says, “Neglect not the grace that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with (meta) imposition of hands of the priesthood.” This text shows that when St. Paul ordained Timothy, the presbyters also laid their hands upon him, even as now the presbyters who assist at ordination lay their hands on the candidate. St. Paul here exhorts Timothy to teach and command, to be an example to all. To neglect this would be to neglect the grace which is in him. This grace therefore enables him to teach and command, to discharge his office rightly. The grace then is not a charismatic gift, but a gift of the Holy Spirit for the rightful discharge of official duties. The Sacrament of Order has ever been recognized in the Church as such. This is attested by the belief in a special priesthood (cf. St. John Chrys., “De sacerdotio”; St. Greg. of Nyss., “Oratio in baptism. Christi”), which requires a special ordination. St. Augustine, speaking about baptism and order, says, “Each is a sacrament, and each is given by a certain consecration, . . .If both are sacraments, which no one doubts, how is the one not lost (by defection from the Church) and the other lost?” (Contra. Epist. Parmen., ii, 28-30). The Council of Trent says, “Whereas, by the testimony of Scripture, by Apostolic tradition, and by the unanimous consent of the Fathers, it is clear that grace is conferred by sacred ordination, which is performed by words and outward signs, no one ought to doubt that Order is truly and properly one of the Seven Sacraments of Holy Church” (Sess. XXIII, c. iii, can. 3).
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