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Daily Prayer During the Year for Priests

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:00:36 +0000

One Minute Meditations

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O Jesus, Eternal Priest;
keep all Your priests within the shelter of Your
Sacred Heart, where none may harm them.
Keep unstained their anointed hands
which daily touch Your Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips purpled with Your Precious Blood.
Keep pure and unearthly their hearts sealed with the
sublime marks of Your glorious priesthood.
Let Your holy love surround them and shield them
from the world’s contagion.

Bless their labors with abundant fruit,
and may the souls to whom they have ministered to
be their joy and consolation
and in Heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown.

O Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us;
obtain for us many holy priests.

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A Prayer for Priests

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:00:51 +0000

One Minute Meditation

A PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

By John J Cardinal Carberry

Keep them; I pray Thee, dearest Lord.

Keep them, for they are Thine

The priests whose lives burn out before

Thy consecrated shrine.

Keep them, for they are in the world,

Though from the world apart.

When earthly pleasures tempt, allure —

Shelter them in Thy heart.

Keep them and comfort them in hours

Of loneliness and pain,

When all their life of sacrifice

For souls seems but in vain.

Keep them and remember, Lord,

they have no one but Thee.

Yet, they have only human hearts,

With human frailty.

Keep them as spotless as the Host,

That daily they caress;

Their every thought and word and deed,

Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.

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Remember…

If the priest is a saint, his people will be holy.

If the priest is holy, his people will be good.

If the priest is good, his people will be fair.

If the priest is fair, his people will be mediocre.

If the priest is mediocre, his people will be bad.

–Anon.

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St. Therese’s Prayer for Priests

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:58:33 +0000

One Minute Meditation

Prayer for Priests

by St. Therese of Lisieux

O Jesus, eternal Priest,

keep your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,

where none may touch them.

Keep unstained their anointed hands,

which daily touch Your Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips,

daily purpled with your Precious Blood.

Keep pure and unearthly their hearts,

sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.

Let Your holy love surround them and

shield them from the world’s contagion.

Bless their labors with abundant fruit and

may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation

here and in heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown. Amen.

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Year of the Priest: a prayer

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:00:44 +0000

One Minute Meditation

Prayer for Holy Vocations to the Priesthood

Almighty God and Father:

We prayerfully ask You to give Your Church holy priests: men of charity, goodness and prayer, good shepherds like Your son, Jesus. Through the prompting of Your grace may they always realize that they are your chosen ones, called by name.

Comfort them more dearly when they are discouraged, lonely or greatly beset by the temptations of the evil one. Help them in their troubles to now that they are Your holy anointed ones, that with You they can do all things.

We ask these favors for Your priests in the world, through Your Son, Jesus Christ, the first and eternal priests. Amen.

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St. John Vianney: Patron of ALL Priests

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:00:17 +0000

In this Year of the Priest it is a special pleasure to consider the Patron Saint of ALL Priests, St. John Vianney. He had been the Patron of Parish Priests but our Holy Father has extended that patronage to all Priests.

Ave Maria Meditations

St. John Mary Vianney was born in France in 1786. His childhood coincided with the terrible French revolution. He was devout even as a boy and quietly taught other children their prayers. He would be ordained a priest in 1815 but struggled mightily through seminary and was a poor student. He had a very difficult time with Latin. There was even talk among his superiors if he should be ordained or, if ordained, be allowed to hear confessions. They decided to ordain him but gave him one of the least desirable of assignments: to the little town of Ars. The young priest was told that the faith was all but lost there and so he would have little to do. “Then I have everything to do!”, he exclaimed.

Upon arriving in Ars the conditions were as foretold but this good priest knew that the holiness of the people would first need a holy priest and so he took upon himself not only his own seeking of personal holiness but also severe penances for his flock. He fasted continually and only slept a few hours a night, spending most of his time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

His prayers and penances began to pay off. He spent time waiting for penitents in the confessions and little by little they began to come. The town began to change and people began to return to the practice of their faith. The time needed in the confessional grew and grew until it was up to 16 hours a day! And the people began to come from other places as his renown as a confessor became widely known.

Supernatural gifts were granted to him and he would even wrestle with the devil in the literal sense for the evil one was furious that so many souls were being snatched from his grasp. Oh, if only the evil one could at least keep the people lukewarm but this priest was leading them on the path to holiness and sanctification! When miracles occurred at his intercession he would always give the glory to God or ‘blame’ Our Lady or St. Philomena. Worn out by his labors this holy man of God died in 1859. He was canonized in 1925 and is the Patron of ALL priests. May they follow his example of holiness.

A NOVENA TO ST. JOHN VIANNEY FOR PRIESTS

First Prayer To The Cure’ D’Ars

Dear St. John Vianney, Cure’ D’Ars, speak to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Ask Her to intercede for us to Her Beloved Son. Grant that all priests be given divine insight into the souls of those in their charge. Give them perseverance and fortitude to match their priestly duties. Keep them safe from the wickedness of the world. Amen.
Hail Mary…

Second Prayer To The Cure’ D’Ars

Dear St. John Vianney, Cure’ D’Ars, touch the priests of the world with a great zeal for souls. Draw them close to the Divine Heart of Jesus so inflamed with love for mankind. Give them the grace to discern that which is best for each soul they touch. Give them peace of mind and heart. Amen.
Hail Mary…

Third Prayer To The Cure’ D’Ars

Dear St. John Vianney, Cure’ D’Ars, ask Jesus to give to all priests a great love of poverty so they can become rich in the gifts of the Holy Spirit as you were. We ask this in the Name of Jesus Most Holy and The Immaculate Heart of Mary. Amen. Hail Mary…

Fourth Prayer To The Cure’ D’Ars

Dear St. John Vianney, Cure’ D’Ars, intercede on behalf of all priests. Help them to persevere in a life that is holy, respecting their vows, and above all, doing penance for the conversion of their flock. We ask this with humility. Touch The Immaculate Heart of Mary with our plea. Amen.
Hail Mary…

Fifth Prayer To The Cure’ D’Ars

Dear St. John Vianney, Cure’ D’Ars, be attentive to the needs of your brother priests. Intercede on behalf of all priests, and beg Jesus, through The Immaculate Heart of Mary, that your brothers be given the greatest gift of all, the gift of love. Amen. Hail Mary…

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Thoughts from St. John Marie Vianney

ON THE HOLY MASS:

All Good Works together are not of equal value with the sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the works of men, and the holy Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison; it is the sacrifice that man makes of his life to God; the Mass is the sacrifice that God makes to man of His Body and of His Blood. Oh, how great is a priest! if he understood himself he would die. . . . God obeys him; he speaks two words, and Our Lord comes down from Heaven at his voice, and shuts Himself up in a little Host. God looks upon the altar. “That is My well-beloved Son, ” He says, “in whom I am well-pleased. ” He can refuse nothing to the merits of the offering of this Victim. If we had faith, we should see God hidden in the priest like a light behind a glass, like wine mingled with water.

If someone said to us, “At such an hour a dead person is to be raised to life, ” we should run very quickly to see it. But is not the Consecration, which changes bread and wine into the Body and Blood of God, a much greater miracle than to raise a dead person to life? We ought always to devote at least a quarter of an hour to preparing ourselves to hear Mass well; we ought to annihilate ourselves before God, after the example of His profound annihilation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist; and we should make our examination of conscience, for we must be in a state of grace to be able to assist properly at Mass. If we knew the value of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or rather if we had faith, we should be much more zealous to assist at it.

ON THE BLESSED SACRAMENT: (St. John Vianney was known to sometimes in the pulpit, wishing to preach on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, get so choked up that he could hardly speak and would, with tears, point to the tabernacle and say: “There He is!” and that is all he could say. )

We should consider those moments spent before the Blessed Sacrament as the happiest of our lives. Our Lord is hidden there, waiting for us to come and visit Him, and make our request to Him. See how good He is! He accommodates Himself to our weakness. In Heaven, where we shall be glorious and triumphant, we shall see him in all His glory. If He had presented Himself before us in that glory now, we should not have dared to approach Him; but He hides Himself, like a person in a prison, who might say to us, “You do not see me, but that is no matter; ask of me all you wish and I will grant it. “

He is there in the Sacrament of His love, sighing and interceding incessantly with His Father for sinners. To what outrages does He not expose Himself, that He may remain in the midst of us! He is there to console us; and therefore we ought often to visit Him. How pleasing to Him is the short quarter of an hour that we steal from our occupations, from something of no use, to come and pray to Him, to visit Him, to console Him for all the outrages He receives! When He sees pure souls coming eagerly to Him, He smiles upon them. They come with that simplicity which pleases Him so much, to ask His pardon for all sinners, for the outrages of so many ungrateful men.

What happiness do we not feel in the presence of God, when we find ourselves alone at His feet before the holy tabernacles! “Come, my soul, redouble thy fervour; thou art alone adoring thy God. His eyes rest upon thee alone. ” This good Saviour is so full of love for us that He seeks us out everywhere.

ON THE PRIESTHOOD:

The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything. Leave a parish twenty years without priests; they will worship beasts. If the missionary Father and I were to go away, you would say, “What can we do in this church? there is no Mass; Our Lord is no longer there: we may as well pray at home. ” When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion. If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place.

ON OUR LADY:

The heart of this good Mother is all love and mercy; she desires only to see us happy. We have only to turn to her to be heard. The Son has His justice, the Mother has nothing but her love. God has loved us so much as to die for us; but in the heart of Our Lord there is justice, which is an attribute of God; in that of the most Holy Virgin there is nothing but mercy. Her Son being ready to punish a sinner, Mary interposes, checks the sword, implores pardon for the poor criminal. “Mother, ” Our Lord says to her, “I can refuse you nothing.”

The Ave Maria is a prayer that is never wearisome. The devotion to the Holy Virgin is delicious, sweet, nourishing. When we talk on earthly subjects or politics, we grow weary; but when we talk of the Holy Virgin, it is always new. All the saints have a great devotion to Our Lady; no grace comes from Heaven without passing through her hands. We cannot go into a house without speaking to the porter; well, the Holy Virgin is the portress of Heaven.

When we have to offer anything to a great personage, we get it presented by the person he likes best, in order that the homage may be agreeable to him. So our prayers have quite a different sort of merit when they are presented by the Blessed Virgin, because she is the only creature who has never offended God. The Blessed Virgin alone has fulfilled the first Commandment–to adore God only, and love Him perfectly. She fulfilled it completely.

ON CONFESSION:

My children, we cannot comprehend the goodness of God towards us in instituting this great Sacrament of Penance. If we had had a favour to ask of Our Lord, we should never have thought of asking Him that. But He foresaw our frailty and our inconstancy in well-doing, and His love induced Him to do what we should not have dared to ask. If one said to those poor lost souls that have been so long in Hell, “We are going to place a priest at the gate of Hell: all those who wish to confess have only to go out, ” do you think, my children, that a single one would remain? The most guilty would not be afraid of telling their sins, nor even of telling them before all the world. Oh, how soon Hell would be a desert, and how Heaven would be peopled!

ON PRAYER:

See my children; the treasure of a Christian is not on the earth, it is in Heaven. Well, our thoughts ought to be where our treasure is. Man has a beautiful office, that of praying and loving. You pray, you love–that is the happiness of man upon the earth. Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When our heart is pure and united to God, we feel within ourselves a joy, a sweetness that inebriates, a light that dazzles us. In this intimate union God and the soul are like two pieces of wax melted together; they cannot be separated. This union of God with His little creature is a most beautiful thing. It is a happiness that we cannot understand.

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In this Year of the Priest: The Necessity of Eucharistic Spirituality

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:00:09 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

excerpts from ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA:

On the Eucharist in its relationship to the Church

Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II, April 2003

The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfillment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity…The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life. For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and living Bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”. Consequently the gaze of the church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.

And so began the introduction to this great encyclical and from the Conclusion we read the following thoughts:

Several years ago I celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of my priesthood. Today…my heart is filled with gratitude. For over a half century, every day…my eyes have gazed in recollection upon the host and the chalice, where time and space in some way “merge” and the drama of Golgotha is re-presented in a living way…Each day my faith has been able to recognize in the consecrated bread and wine the divine Wayfarer who joined the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and opened their eyes to the light and their hearts to new hope. (Lk 24:13-35).

Allow me, dear brothers and sisters, to share with deep emotion, as a means of accompanying and strengthening your faith, my own testimony of faith in the Most Holy Eucharist…Here is the Church’s treasure, the heart of the world, the pledge of the fulfillment for which each man and woman, even unconsciously, yearns.. Here our senses fail us…yet faith alone, rooted in the word of Christ handed down to us by the Apostles, is sufficient for us. Allow me, like Peter at the end of the Eucharistic discourse in John’s Gospel, to say once more to Christ, in the name of the whole Church and in the name of each of you: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

At the dawn of this third millennium, we, the children of the Church, are called to undertake with renewed enthusiasm the journey of Christian living… it is not an inventing a ‘new program’. The program already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition; it is the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its centre in Christ himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity… the implementation of this program of a renewed impetus in Christian living passes through the Eucharist.

Every commitment to holiness, every activity aimed at carrying out the Church’s mission, every work of pastoral planning, must draw the strength it needs from the Eucharistic mystery and in turn be directed to that mystery as its culmination. In the Eucharist we have Jesus, we have his redemptive sacrifice, we have his resurrection, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have adoration, obedience and love of the Father. Were we to disregard the Eucharist, how could we overcome our own deficiency?

By giving the Eucharist the prominence it deserves, and by being careful not to diminish any of its dimensions or demands, we show that we are truly conscious of the greatness of this gift…In the humble signs of bread and wine, changed into his body and blood, Christ walks beside us as our strength and our food for the journey, and he enables us to become, for everyone, witnesses of hope. If, in the presence of this mystery, reason experiences its limits, the heart, enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, clearly sees the response that is demanded, and bows low in adoration and unbounded love.

Other thoughts on the centrality of the Eucharist in our spiritual life drawn from the encyclical include the following:

The Eucharist, as Christ’s saving presence in the community of the faithful and its spiritual food, is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history.

The worship of the Eucharist outside of the Mass is of inestimable value for the life of the Church. This worship is strictly linked to the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice…It is pleasant to spend time with him, to lie close to his breast like the Beloved Disciple (cf. Jn 13:25) and to feel the infinite love present in his heart.

If in our time Christians must be distinguished above all by the “art of prayer”, how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament? How often, dear brother and sisters, have I experienced this, and drawn from it strength, consolation and support! Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.

Communion…presupposes the life of grace, by which we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), and the practice of the virtues of faith, hope and love. Only in this way do we have true communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Nor is faith sufficient; (There is)a specific moral duty incumbent upon Christians who wish to participate fully in the Eucharist by receiving the body and blood of Christ. The Apostle Paul appeals to this duty when he warns: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

Along these same lines, the Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly stipulates that “anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion”. I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future. The two sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance are very closely connected. Because the Eucharist makes present the redeeming sacrifice of the Cross, perpetuating it sacramentally, it naturally gives rise to a continuous need for conversion, for a personal response… The judgment of one’s state of grace obviously belongs only to the person involved, since it is a question of examining one’s conscience.

If we wish to rediscover in all its richness the profound relationship between the Church and the Eucharist, we cannot neglect Mary, Mother and model of the Church…the Blessed Virgin Mary as our teacher in contemplating Christ’s face…Mary can guide us towards this most holy sacrament, because she herself has a profound relationship with it.

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Year of the Priest: A Favorite Prayer from Fr. Val

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:00:08 +0000

Ave Maria Meditations

+ O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son & Holy Spirit, open my mind that I may think according to Your ways not according to man’s way or my way. Enlighten me, Lord, guard me, guide me, and teach me. Fill me with the most precious gifts of the Most Holy Trinity. Fill me with the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord – with genuine humility and obedience.

+ O Lord, open my lips only for You to speak and act through me, with me and in me all the days of my life. Without You, Lord – seal my lips (keep me silent).

+ O Lord, open my heart and fill it with eternal love, g1oty, praise, adoration and thanksgiving.

+ Fill my heart with deep eternal sorrow for all the sins of my life, not as I see my sins, but as You O Lord, see them. Fill my heart with deep eternal gratitude for creating me, redeeming me, sanctifying me, adopting me as your child and calling me to my h oly vocations.

+ Keep me faithful to Your teaching and never let me be parted from You, O Lord. Amen

Fr. Valerian Rykowski

+3-1-09

At Holy Mass, Fr. Val was known to have tears.

I had the privilege of knowing Fr. Val. And also his brother, a priest of over 55 years.

Fr. Val celebrated 65 years of holy priesthood last year.

He touched many souls including mine.

Sr. Joseph-Mary FTI

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Prayer for Priests in the Rosary

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:00:03 +0000

One Minute Meditation

ROSARY FOR PRIESTS

John Cardinal Carberry

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.

Dear Jesus, how can we ever properly thank You for our priests? They have given up everything for us, forsaking the world to nourish our souls with the Eucharist and to heal our wounds through holy confession

End forth Your Holy Spirit right now, in a flood-nay-a supernatural torrent of grace in swift and sure answer to this plea, bringing consolations and courage and purity and joy to our beloved priests. As only You can do, whisper into their hearts that we love them so. As only You can do, enwrap each man wearing a cassock and collar (and habit) in the loving maternal arms of Your Mother who wept with You and stayed with You during Your hours of suffering during Your crucifixion.

We ask this in Your Holy Name, the Name above all names: Jesus! Amen.

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Prayer for Priests to be said after every decade of the rosary , after the Fatima prayer:

God, our Father, please send us holy priests, all for the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, all for the sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, all in union with Saint Joseph.

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Year of the Priest: You are a Priest Forever

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:00:14 +0000

One Minute Meditation

THOU ART A PRIEST FOREVER

To live in the midst of the world without desiring its pleasures;

To be a member of each family, yet belong to none.

To share all sufferings;

To penetrate all secrets;

To heal all wounds;

To go from men to God

to bring pardon, peace, and hope;

To have a heart of fire for charity

and a heart of bronze for chastity;

To teach and to pardon,

to console and bless always.

My God, what a life!

And it is yours, O priest of God!

-Lacordaire

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Year of the Priest: A Thought from Ven. Pius XII on Our Lady and the Priest

Sr. JosephMary f.t.i. — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:00:17 +0000

One Minute Meditation

(excerpted from) MENTI NOSTRAE

Pope Pius XII

Apostolic Exhortation To The Clergy Of The Entire World On the Development of Holiness in Priestly Life

Confidence in Mary, Mother of Priests

141. When you meet very serious difficulties in the path of holiness and the exercise of your ministry, turn your eyes and your mind trustfully to her who is the Mother of the Eternal Priest and therefore the loving Mother of all Catholic priests. You are well aware of the goodness of this Mother. In many regions you have been the humble instruments of the mercy of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in wonderfully reviving the faith and charity of the Christian people.

142. Our Lady loves everyone with a most tender love, but She has a particular predilection for priests who are the living image of Jesus Christ. Take comfort in the thought of the love of the Divine Mother for each of you and you will find the labors of your sanctification and priestly ministry much easier.

All Priests Entrusted to Mary

143. To the Beloved Mother of God, Mediatrix of heavenly graces, We entrust the priests of the whole world in order that, through her intercession, God will vouchsafe a generous outpouring of His Spirit which will move all ministers of the altar to holiness and, through their ministry, will spiritually renew the face of the earth.

For the full document see https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/menti-nostrae-8949

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