If today priesthood and prophethood are often presented to us as opposites--priesthood as what is ossified and institutional, prophethood as what is free, creative and renewing; if in addition worship and social action are contrasted--worship once again as mere pomp in which man establishes himself and clings to himself and social action as liberation and renewal; then here we see that this is not how it is. Only prophecy that springs from being moved by God, from God coming first, can really be from God. The reverse applies that priesthood too is only right when it is from the power of prayer that it comes to proclaim the word and thus change the world, because prayer extends farther than all our activities: it constantly embraces the whole world which we can then share in embracing if we regard it and affect it on the foundation of God.
For this reason, contrasts of this kind are misleading and mean that we do not grasp either priesthood or prophethood correctly any longer. Certainly, there is a degenerate form of priesthood, a danger--in the Old as well as in the New Testament--just as there are degenerate forms of prophecy. In the Old Testament, false prophecy is condemned by the prophets no less harshly than the priesthood. Priesthood falls into decay when it is seen only as an opportunity to earn one's living, when it is seen only as an opportunity to earn one's living, when it is only a job by which we have a position in the world and struggle along to maintain our social standing, when God becomes a means for us. Then it has become a complete caricature of itself and thus has turned into the opposite of the new departure of the New Covenant and the message of Jesus Christ. But this temptation exists in all ages.
--Card Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), Homily, Feast of St John the Baptist, 1986, Ministers of Your Joy, pp 45-46
Priesthood and prophecy, worship and social action always go together
Dangers of being hyper-active
Saints have therefore experienced a profound unity of life between prayer and action, between total love for God and love for their brethren. St Bernard, who is a model of harmony between contemplation and hard work, in his book De consideratione, addressed to Pope Innocent II to offer him some reflections on his ministry, insists precisely on the importance of inner recollection, of prayer to defend oneself from the dangers of being hyper-active, whatever our condition and whatever the task to be carried out. St Bernard says that all too often too much work and a frenetic life-style end by hardening the heart and causing the spirit to suffer (cf.II, 3).
His words are a precious reminder to us today, used as we are to evaluating everything with the criterion of productivity and efficiency. The passage from the Acts of the Apostles reminds us of the importance – without a doubt a true and proper ministry is created – of devotion to daily activities which should be carried out with responsibility and dedication and also our need for God, for his guidance, for his light which gives us strength and hope. Without daily prayer lived with fidelity, our acts are empty, they lose their profound soul, and are reduced to being mere activism which in the end leaves us dissatisfied. There is a beautiful invocation of the Christian tradition to be recited before any other activity which says: “Actiones nostras, quæsumus, Domine, aspirando præveni et adiuvando prosequere, ut cuncta nostra oratio et operatio a te semper incipiat, et per te coepta finiatur”; that is, “Inspire our actions, Lord, and accompany them with your help, so that our every word and action may always begin and end in you”. Every step in our life, every action, of the Church too, must be taken before God, in the light of his word.
-- Pope Benedict XVI, Audience, 16 May 2012