#prayerforpriests

Sunday Reflection – 2 September – Today’s Gospel:  Mark 7:1–23 – Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

John Paul and Jean-Marie

When the Curé of Ars spoke of the Sacrament of the Altar, he glowed!   He communicated to his hearers the Eucharistic fire that burned in his own heart.   Thirty-two years ago, St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) devoted his Holy Thursday Letter to Priests, to Saint Jean-Marie Vianney.   I think that today we can read that letter as one saint talking about another.   This is what Pope John Paul II said:

“The Eucharist was at the very centre of Saint Jean Vianney’s spiritual life and pastoral work. He said:  “All good works put together are not equivalent to the Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men and the Holy Mass is the work of God.” It is in the Mass that the sacrifice of Calvary is made present for the Redemption of the world.   Clearly, the priest must unite the daily gift of himself to the offering of the Mass: “How well a priest does, therefore, to offer himself to God in sacrifice every morning!” “Holy Communion and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are the two most efficacious actions for obtaining the conversion of hearts.”

Recollection and Adoration Thus the Mass was for John Mary Vianney the great joy and comfort of his priestly life. He took great care, despite the crowds of penitents, to spend more than a quarter of an hour in silent preparation.   He celebrated with recollection, clearly expressing his adoration at the consecration and communion.   He accurately remarked:

“The cause of priestly laxity is not paying attention to the Mass!”

Let us always, daily, pray for all our Priests!

St John Vianney (1786-1859) Patron of Priests Prayer for Priests By St John Vianney

God, please give to Your Church today many more priests after Your own heart. May they be worthy representatives of Christ the Good Shepherd. May they wholeheartedly devote themselves to prayer and penance; be examples of humility and poverty; shining models of holiness; tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God; zealous dispensers of Your grace in the sacraments. May their loving devotion to Your Son, Jesus in the Eucharist and to Mary His Mother, be the twin fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry. Amen

Thought for the Day – 27 March – Tuesday of Holy Week 2018

In many countries of the world, the Chrism Mass is celebrated today or tomorrow, together with the renewal of the local Priests’ vows.   In my particular Diocese, this is so, therefore I hope you will join me in praying for all our priests.

“Dear brothers and sisters, each year the Chrism Mass exhorts us to return to that “yes” to the call of God which we pronounced on the day of our priestly ordination. “Adsum – here I am!”, we said like Isaiah, when he heard the voice of God, who asked him:  “Whom shall I send?   Who will go for us?”  “Here I am, send me!”, Isaiah replied (Isaiah 6:8).   Then the Lord Himself, through the hands of the bishop, laid His hands upon us and we gave ourselves to His mission.   Since then, we have travelled down various roads in following His call.   Can we always claim what Paul, after years of a service of the Gospel that was often labourious and marked by sufferings of all kinds, wrote to the Corinthians: “Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown us, we are not discouraged” (2 Cor. 4:1)?   “We are not discouraged.”   Let us pray today that our zeal may always be rekindled, so that it is constantly fed by the living flame of the Gospel.”…Pope Benedict 20 March 2008

Let us pray:

LORD JESUS CHRIST,

Eternal High Priest, you offered yourself to the Father on the altar of the Cross and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave your priestly people a share in your redeeming sacrifice. Hear our prayer for the sanctification of our priests. Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood may be ever more conformed to you, the divine Master. May they preach the Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience. Let them be shepherds according to your own Heart, single- minded in service to you and to the Church and shining examples of a holy,simple and joyful life. Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your Mother and ours,draw all priests and the flocks entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

AMEN

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Holy Priest of God, Blessed Louis-Edouard Cestac, please pray for all our priests, amen.

Thought for the Day – 19 October – The Memorial of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko (1947-1984)

Fr Jerzy Popiełuszko, a priest and martyr,….exercised his generous and courageous ministry beside all those who were working for freedom, for the defence of life and for its dignity. His work at the service of goodness and truth was a sign of contradiction for the regime governing Poland at the time. Love of the Heart of Christ led him to give his life and his witness was the seed of a new springtime in the Church and in society. If we look at history, we can note how many pages of authentic spiritual and social renewal were written with the crucial contribution of Catholic priests, motivated solely by passion for the Gospel and for human beings and for their true freedom, both religious and civil. How many initiatives of integral human promotion have been born from the intuition of a priestly heart! (13 June 2010, Pope Benedict XVI) And so, let us pray for all our priests:

Pope Benedict’s Prayer for Priests

LORD JESUS CHRIST, Eternal High Priest, You offered Yourself to the Father on the altar of the Cross and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave Your priestly people a share in Your redeeming sacrifice. Hear our prayer for the sanctification of our priests. Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood may be ever more conformed to You, the divine Master. May they preach the Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience. Let them be shepherds according to Your own Heart, single- minded in service to You and to the Church and shining examples of a holy,simple and joyful life. Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your Mother and ours,draw all priests and the flocks entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life where You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, Pray for our Priests, pray for us all!

The Feast Day of the Patron of Parish Priests – 4 August – St John Vianney the Curé of Ars

When Pope Benedict XVI announced a special Year for Priests to be observed in the Universal Church (June 19, 2009 — June 19, 2010), he noted that the timing was not arbitrary. The year coincides, he said, with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, “a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ’s flock.”

It is, therefore, appropriate that we pray for all our priests today:

Gracious and loving God, we thank your for the gift of our priests. Through them, we experience your presence in the sacraments.

Help our priests to be strong in their vocation. Set their souls on fire with love for your people.

Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vision of your Kingdom.

Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel. Allow them to experience joy in their ministry.

Help them to become instruments of your divine grace.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest.

Amen

St John Vianney, pray for all our priests!

A Prayer for Priests and for more Laborers in the Vineyard 🕊️🙏

"Bless us with an abundance of vocations to the priesthood, that dedicated servants may rise to lead your people with love and compassion. Strengthen the hearts of those discerning the call, guiding them with your wisdom and peace" 🙌🌿

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Second Thoughts for the Day – 26 August – 21st Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel: John 6:60–69

May we offer our Sunday Communion for all the Priests of the World, who bring us the Sacrament which gives us life.

O my beloved Jesus, Son of the Father and His Eternal High Priest, offering Yourself to Him perpetually in the sanctuary of heaven and here in the Sacrament of Your Redeeming Love, I adore You.

I praise You that here I find Your Eucharistic Heart, open, ever-beating with love, and covering with a flood of Blood and of Water those who draw near to You in this Sacrament.

I praise You that here I behold Your Eucharistic Face, filling the shadows of this world with Your deifying light, and shining into the hearts of those who approach You in faith, in hope and in love.

I pray to You for Your priests, without whom this valley of tears would be devoid of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, without the adorable mysteries of Your life-giving Body and Blood, and without Your abiding real presence in the tabernacles of the world.

Sanctify Your priests, O Jesus! Wash them in the Blood and Water gushing at every moment from Your Sacred Side Heal them in the light of Your Eucharistic Face and, to do this, draw them all into Your sacramental presence.

Let Your tabernacles magnetise their souls, and the desire to abide before Your Eucharistic Face hold sway over their hearts. Let Your Sacred Body exposed in the monstrance exercise over them the most compelling of all attractions.

Look today upon those priests who, for whatever reason, have forgotten the way to Your tabernacles and rarely, if ever, stop all else to rest their tired bodies and still their minds before Your Eucharistic Face, and to adore You simply because . . . You are there.

Save Your priests in danger of falling into sin, and lift those who have fallen, so that, having confessed their faults and received absolution, they may return to Your altar and to the joy of their youth.

Let not one of Your priests remain outside the radiance of Your Eucharistic Face. Draw them all out of this world’s darkness into Your wonderful light, that with the psalmist they might say not once, but again and again: “Look to Him and be radiant and on your faces there will be no trace of shame.” Amen.

I pray especially for my own Priest, Fr Enrico Parry and Catholic Priest Media – https://catholicpriestmedia.com/

Thought for the Day – – 18 July – The Holy Father’s Prayer Intention for July “Pray for our Priests and their Pastoral Ministry”

“What joy did the Apostles feel after the Resurrection of Our Lord, at seeing the Master whom they had loved so much! The priest must feel the same joy, at seeing Our Lord whom he holds in his hands. Great value is attached to objects which have been laid in the drinking cup of the Blessed Virgin and of the Child Jesus, at Loretto. But the fingers of the priest, that have touched the adorable Flesh of Jesus Christ, that have been plunged into the chalice which contained His Blood, into the pyx where His Body has lain, are they not still more precious? The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus.   When you see the priest, think of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

St John Vianney (1786-1859) Patron of Priests

Prayer for Priests By St John Vianney

God, please give to Your Church today many more priests after Your own heart. May they be worthy representatives of Christ the Good Shepherd. May they wholeheartedly devote themselves to prayer and penance; be examples of humility and poverty; shining models of holiness; tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God; zealous dispensers of Your grace in the sacraments. May their loving devotion to Your Son, Jesus in the Eucharist and to Mary His Mother, be the twin fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry. Amen

On the Memorial of Blessed Marcelo Spínola y Maestre, Cardinal-Priest (1835-1906) – 19 January

As today we have been thinking of all our Priests, let us pray:

Pope Benedict’s Prayer for Priests

LORD JESUS CHRIST, Eternal High Priest, You offered Yourself to the Father on the altar of the Cross and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave Your priestly people a share in Your redeeming sacrifice. Hear our prayer for the sanctification of our priests. Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood may be ever more conformed to You, the divine Master. May they preach the Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience. Let them be shepherds according to Your own Heart, single- minded in service to You and to the Church and shining examples of a holy,simple and joyful life. Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your Mother and ours,draw all priests and the flocks entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life where You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. AMEN BENEDICTUS PP. XVI