In order to have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, first we must have validly ordained priests. Here is the section from the great Fr. Spirago on Holy Orders.
Keep the Faith!
HOLY ORDERS.
At the time of His ascension, Our Lord lifted up His hands, blessed His apostles, and sent them forth into the world to preach the Gospel and dispense the sacraments (Luke xxiv. 50). The bishop does much the same when he ordains priests. (The imposition of hands signifies that something is given, since gifts are distributed with the hand.)
1. At the administration of Holy Orders the bishop lays his hands on the candidates for ordination, calls down upon them the Holy Ghost, anoints their hands, and presents the sacred vessels to them.
They thereby receive, in addition to a plenitude of grace, the sacerdotal powers; more especially the power to offer the holy sacrifice and to forgive sins.
Holy Orders are administered during the celebration of Mass. The candidates for ordination first prostrate themselves upon their faces before the altar; then the bishop lays his hands upon the head of each one severally, the priests present doing the same. He next arrays them in the sacerdotal vestments; the Veni Sancte Spiritus is sung, and he anoints the hands of each one in turn with the sacred chrism in the form of a cross. He then gives the chalice and paten into their hands, thereby conferring on them the power to otter the holy sacrifice; after which he addresses to them the words of Our Lord: “Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, etc.” Finally the newly-ordained are required to promise respect and obedience to the bishop. The ceremony of anointing the hands, and presenting the sacred vessels is only an accessory; it was not in use until the ninth century, and now has no place in the Greek ritual. Hot only supernatural powers, but graces are imparted in the Sacrament of Orders. By this sacred ordinance the Holy Ghost is given (Council of Trent, 13, 2).
The Sacrament of Holy Orders was administered in the time of the apostles.
We read that the apostles consecrated Paul and Barnabas with prayer and imposition of hands (Acts xiii. 3), and in like manner St. Paul consecrated Timothy (2 Tim. i. 6). St. Augustine speaks of Orders as a sacrament when he inveighs against the Donatists, who asserted that while Baptism confers what can never be lost, the right of administering Baptism may be lost. “Both,” he declares, “are sacraments, and can only be received once.” The Sacrament of Orders was unquestionably instituted by Our Lord at the Last Supper.
2. The office of the priesthood, to which a man is raised by Holy Orders, is one of great dignity, but likewise one of no slight difficulty and of vast responsibility.
The priesthood is the highest dignity upon earth. It surpasses that of kings and emperors, nay, even of the angels themselves. “For,” as St. John Chrysostom remarks, “the power of kings is only over the bodies of men, whereas that of the priest is over their souls.” On the priest are conferred powers not accorded to angels; for to what angel was it ever given to convert bread into the body of the Lord by his word? and not all the angels together could grant pardon for a single sin. By his office a priest is only concerned with heavenly things; he stands between God and man; he lays our petition before the Most High and conveys divine graces to us. He is a mediator between God and man, the angel of the Lord of hosts (Mal. ii. 7), the messenger of God to make known His will to men. He is God’s representative, His ambassador, His plenipotentiary; therefore whatsoever honor we show to the priest, we. pay to God Himself. Does not Our Lord Himself say: “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me” (Luke x. 16)? In fact, St. Peter Damian says, God actually follows the priest, for what he declares on earth is ratified in heaven; and at his word the Second Person of the Holy Trinity becomes flesh beneath his hand as at the Incarnation. Hence we do well to address the priest as “your reverence.” St. Francis of Assisi used to say that if he met an angel and a priest at the same time he should salute the priest first. The sacerdotal office is also one of great difficulty; the obligations resting upon the priest are neither few nor light. He has to recite the breviary daily, which cannot be done under an hour and a quarter; he is pledged to lifelong celibacy; he has to visit the sick at any hour of the day or night when he may be called upon; he has to take the last sacraments to the dying, however contagious the disease from which they are suffering; he has often to sit for long hours in the confessional, to fast late, on account of the late Masses; he is bound to renounce all worldly amusements (such as dancing), to be liberal towards the poor, and much more besides. Priests ought to be the salt of the earth (Matt. v. 13). Nor must it be overlooked that zealous priests are in the present day frequently the objects of suspicion and persecution, and their apostolic labors are ill-rewarded. The votaries of the world are inclined to treat their priests like the dog in the fable, who bit the hand that was stretched out to save him from drowning. The priestly office is besides one of immense responsibility. If the wolf comes and rends the sheep, the shepherd is taken to task. So it is with the priests; they have to render an account of the souls committed to their charge (Heb. xiii. 17). “The duties of those who will have to give account for souls,” says St. Bernard, “are heavy and onerous.” On the day of his ordination St. John Chrysostom said: “I now need your prayers a thousandfold more, lest in the Day of Judgment I should.be cast into the exterior darkness.”
Since the sacerdotal office is in itself an office of such great dignity, we owe profound respect to the priest on account of his office, even if his life should not correspond to it.
Nothing can take away the dignity attaching to the priestly office, not even an ungodly life; therefore we ought always to entertain great reverence for it. Even pagan monarchs have been known to manifest deep veneration for the priests of the true God. When Alexander the Great was about to make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the high priest went out to meet him with all the priests arrayed in festal vestments, in order to ask a favor of him. Alexander dismounted from his horse, and instantly granted all that he asked. And when the general of the army expressed his surprise, Alexander replied: “It is not the high priest to whom I pay homage, but to the true God, Whose servant he is.” Attila also, the terrible King of the Huns, when advancing upon Rome to plunder the city, allowed himself to be prevailed upon by Pope Leo the Great, to desist from his purpose. Yet almighty God permits His priests to be encompassed with infirmity, in order that they may have the more compassion on them that are ignorant and that err (Heb. v. 2). St. Francis of Sales said of priests: “I will close my eyes to their faults, and only see in them God’s representatives.” How blameworthy are those who publish far and wide the misdeeds of a priest! “Are we,” asks St. Augustine, “to think slightingly of Christ and the apostles, because there was a Judas among them? Who will show me any body of men upon earth who are without faults?”
Since the office of the priesthood is one of much labor and grave responsibilities, no man ought to take Holy Orders who is not called to the sacerdotal state.
Let no man become a priest who feels no attraction for the sacred ministry; who has no longing to save souls, who leads an irregular life, or who only thinks of the priesthood as a means of gaining a living easily, and enjoying a comfortable competence. Parents are greatly to blame who force their sons to take Orders without a vocation, for those who enter the priesthood without a true vocation are unhappy and discontented all their life long. They neglect the duties of their calling, give scandal, and finally too often lose their souls. For this reason many eminent saints positively refused to receive Holy Orders or to be raised to the episcopate. St. Francis of Assisi remained a deacon to the end of his days. St. Cyprian concealed himself when he was to be appointed Bishop of Carthage; St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil acted in a similar manner. They all considered themselves unworthy of the dignity offered them, and only accepted it when they recognized it to be the will of God that they should do so. Almighty God calls to the priesthood whom He will; witness Our Lord’s words to the apostles: “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you” (John xv. 16).
Thank you 🙏🏼 for clear information that is Truth.