The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist. Source: ÿCatechism of the Catholic Church #1322
"The eucharistic form of the Christian life is seen in a very special way in the priesthood. Priestly spirituality is intrinsically eucharistic." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"The Synod speaks further of the Eucharist as the 'heart of priestly existence.' This means that the presbyter, desiring to be and remain personally and profoundly attached to Christ, finds him first in the Eucharist, the sacrament which brings about this intimate union, open to a growth which can reach the heights of mystical identification. [...]
"The priest is quite aware that he cannot count on his own efforts to achieve the purposes of his ministry. Rather, he is called to serve as an instrument of the victorious action of Christ whose sacrifice, made present on the altars, obtains for humanity an abundance of divine gifts. However, he also knows that, [...]
"The Second Vatican Council recalled: 'Priests act especially in the person of Christ as ministers of holy things, especially in the Sacrifice of the Mass' (PO 13) and that without a priest there can be no Eucharistic sacrifice." Source: Pope St. John Paul II, General Audience, June 9, 1993
"He is in the Most Blessed Sacrament to exercise His priesthood. He is there as God and Man. Does not this Presence call for a special service, a court, a family, which has no other occupation than to serve the great King?" Source: St. Peter Julian Eymard, The Divine Eucharist St. Peter Julian Eymard [...]
"Now, of all the sacraments it is the Holy Eucharist that brings to fullness their initiation as Christians and confers upon the exercise of the common priesthood that sacramental and ecclesial form that links it-as we mentioned before-to the exercise of the ministerial priesthood. In this way eucharistic worship is the center and goal of [...]
"In the institution of the Church and the priesthood. He wished again to perpetuate forever His mercy. Priests do not exist to give certificates of virtue to the just, but to absolve and console poor sinners." Source: St. Peter Julian Eymard, The Divine Eucharist St. Peter Julian Eymard was a priest and the founder [...]
"The Church teaches that priestly ordination is the indispensable condition for the valid celebration of the Eucharist." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"The priest fulfills his principal mission and is manifested in all his fullness when he celebrates the Eucharist, and this manifestation is more complete when he himself allows the depth of that mystery to become visible, so that it alone shines forth in people's hearts and minds, through his ministry. This is the supreme exercise [...]