CCC 1119 Forming “as it were, one mystical person” with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as “an organically structured priestly community.”1 Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful “who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ.”2
CCC 1120 The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood.3 The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person.4 The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.
1 LG 11; cf. Pius XII, Mystici Corporis (1943).
2 LG 11 # 2.
3 Cf. LG 10 # 2.
4 Cf. Jn 20:21-23; Lk 24:47; Mt 28:18-20.