“If we did not have the Sacrament of Orders, we should not have Our Lord.  Who placed Him there in that tabernacle?  It was the priest.  Who was it that received your soul on its entrance into life?  The priest.  Who nourishes it to give it strength to make its pilgrimage?  The priest.  Who will prepare it to appear before God by washing that soul for the last time in the blood of Jesus Christ?  The priest – always the priest.

And if that soul comes to the point of death, who will raise it up, who will restore it to calmness and to peace?  Again, the priest.  You cannot recall one single blessing from God without finding side by side with this recollection, the image of the priest.”

-The Cure d’Ars, “Catechism for Priests”