The cardinal said that, "In the silence of his suffering, the Pope, with the example of a life given 'to the end', repeats the Pauline affirmation: 'we preach Christ crucified, ... the power of God and the wisdom of God,' loving all men with Christ's charity and completing in his own body what is lacking in the passion of the one Savior and Redeemer," referring to Colossians 1:24.
The prefect continued, saying, "From his own cross, the Pope indicates to each priest the unfathomable dignity, conferred upon him by ordination, of being able to pronounce, 'in persona Christi,' the words that instituted the Eucharistic mystery, and of receiving the capacity to transform his own priestly existence into a radical gift for the Church and for humanity."
"Conformed to Christ,” he said, “we priests are called by the Pope to transform ourselves into Eucharistic bread, giving thanks to God with our own lives, for the work of salvation achieved by His only begotten Son."
Cardinal Castrillon noted that the Holy Father "reminds us of 'the obedience of love,' that grateful obligation with which we have been entrusted, to give ourselves entirely to the People of God, an obligation that we assumed on the day of our priestly ordination and that finds expression, as an example for all the faithful, in following the authoritative discernment of bishops, imitating Christ Who at the last Supper entrusted Himself to the Church.”
What we are giving is our autonomy, even our legitimate autonomy, a giving against which modern culture rebels as it seeks self-realization in reason unfettered by any limitation."
"Once more,” he continued, “in this year of the Eucharist, the Holy Father introduces us with love to the 'mysterium Paschae', which is the great mystery of faith.”