TASTE Prayer for Priests
by St. Therese of Lisieux
O Jesus, Eternal Priest;
Keep Your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,
where none can touch them.
Keep unstained their anointed HANDS,
which daily touch Your Sacred Body.
Keep unsullied their LIPS,
daily tinged with Your Precious Blood.
Keep pure and unworldly their HEARTS,
sealed with the sublime marks of the priesthood.
Let Your holy love surround and protect them
from the world's harmful ideas and practices.
Bless their labors with abundant fruit,
and may the souls to whom they minister
be their joy and consolation here
and their everlasting crown in the hereafter.
Amen.
PRAYER TO GIVE US GOOD HOLY PRIESTS
by St. Therese of Lisieux
O Holy Father, may the torrents of love flowing from the Sacred Wounds of Your Divine Son bring forth priests like unto the beloved disciple John, who stood at the foot of the cross; priests, who as a pledge of Your own most tender love will lovingly give your Divine Son to the souls of men. May Your priests be faithful guardians of Your Church, as John was of Mary, whom he received into his house. Taught by this loving Mother who suffered so much on Calvary, may they display a mother's care and thoughtfulness towards Your children. May they teach souls to enter into close union with You through Mary who, as the Gate of Heaven, is specially the guardian of the treasures of Your Divine Heart.
Give us priests who are on fire, and who are true children of Mary, priests who will give Jesus to souls with the same tenderness and care with which Mary carried the Little Child of Bethlehem. Mother of sorrows and of love, out of compassion for your beloved Son, open in our hearts, deep wells of love, so that we may console Him and give Him a generation of priests formed in your school and having all the tender thoughtfulness of your own spotless love. Amen.
Remember
by Cardinal Suhard
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.
. . . . You must never forget that priests are,
and that they remain, men.
God does not perform a miracle to wrest them
from the human state.
The priesthood does not of itself give a person
the power to do everything or to excel in everything.
It is important to remember this
lest you fall into a very old error
. . . that of dehumanizing the priesthood and consequently
of setting the priest outside of ordinary life.
That does great harm for by thus isolating him,
as unbelievers do, to the exclusive realm of ceremonies
. . . he is deprived in good part of his reason for being.
If men refuse to pass through him, he no longer can be,
at least fully, their mediator.
Give Priests Your Grace
by St. Augustine
Eternal God, please bless our priests,
who represent You on this earth.
Make them more greatly aware of the grace
that You pour out through them when they minister
the sacraments, and help them to fall more
deeply in love with You after each and every
Mass that they celebrate.
Please strengthen our priests, who shepherd
Your flock, when they are in doubt of their faith,
that they may be examples of Your Truth
and guide us always on the path to You.
We ask these things of You, our Eternal Priest. Amen.
"Christ held Himself in His hands when He gave His Body to His disciples saying: '
This is My Body.' No one partakes of this Flesh before he has adored it."
Thank You Father
by John J. Cardinal Carberry
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 Confession. Send 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 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, Jesus, Jesus! Amen.
Litany Of Humility
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear my prayer...
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged ... Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected ... Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I ...
Jesus, Grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may, increase and I may decrease...
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should...
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Amen.
O Jesus, our great High Priest,
Hear my humble prayers on behalf of your priest, Father [N].
Give him a deep faith,
a bright and firm hope and
a burning love which will ever increase
in the course of his priestly life.
In his loneliness,
comfort him In his sorrows, strengthen him
In his frustrations,
point out to him that it is through suffering that the soul is purified,
and show him that he is needed by the Church,
he is needed by souls,
he is needed for the work of redemption.
O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests,
take to your heart your son who is close to you
because of his priestly ordination, and
because of the power which he has received
to carry on the work of Christ in a world which needs him so much.
Be his comfort, be his joy, be his strength,
and especially help him to live and to defend
the ideals of consecrated celibacy.
Amen.
Please pray for your parish priest.
Encourage him and help..
not by always offering ways for him to make things better,
but by YOU helping him.
PRAY that his soul be pure and unworldly and
that he is able to seek only the will of God.
Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord,
Keep them, for they are Thine -
Thy 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 O 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.