A Prayer for Priests

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 lives 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 thoughts and word and deed, Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.

Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory Be…

(Imprimatur: D. Cardinal Dougherty, Philadelphia.)

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Divine Savior Jesus Christ, Who has entrusted the whole work of Your redemption and the welfare and salvation of the world to priests as your representatives and through the hands of Your most holy Mother: for the sanctification of your priests and candidates for the priesthood, I offer You this present day wholly and entirely with all its prayers, works, joys, sacrifices, and sorrows. Give us truly holy priests who, inflamed with the fire of Your divine love, seek nothing but Your greater glory and the salvation of our souls. 

And you, Mary, good Mother of priests, protect all priests in the danger of their holy vocation and, with the loving hand of a mother, also lead back to the Good Shepherd those poor priests who have become unfaithful to their exalted vocation and have gone astray. Amen.

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Mary, mother of Jesus, throw your mantle of purity over our priests. Protect them, guide them and keep them in your heart. Be a mother to them especially in times of discouragement and loneliness. Love them and let them belong completely to Jesus.

Like Jesus, they too are your sons, so keep their hearts pure and virginal. Keep their minds filled with Jesus, and put Jesus always on their lips, so that   is the one they offer to sinners and to all they meet.

Mary, mother of Jesus, be their mother, loving them and bringing them joy. Take special care of sick and dying priests and the ones most tempted. Remember how they spent their youth and old age, their entire lives serving and giving all to Jesus.

Mary, bless them and keep a special place for them in your heart. Give them a piece of your heart, so beautiful and pure and immaculate, so full of love and humility so that they, too, may grow in the likeness of Christ. Dear Mary, make them humble like you and holy like Jesus. Amen

St. Teresa of Calcutta

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Ave Maria Meditations

(how this is needed, perhaps more than ever, in our day)

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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Father Most Holy, I offer You the prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day by placing them in the holy hands of Jesus, the Eternal High Priest, and by saying, as He did upon entering the world, “Behold I come to do Your will!”

For the sake of all His priests, especially (name of priest), I entreat Your beloved Son to unite my offering to the Sacrifice of the Cross, renewed upon the alters of Your Church from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Most merciful Father, look up on these men chosen by Your Son to share in His priestly mission to show forth His death until He comes. Keep them from the evil one and sanctify them in the truth. Bind them by a most tender love to the Virgin Mary, that, by her intercession, they may be overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit in every act of their sacred ministry. May thus their priesthood reveal the Face of Jesus and the merciful love of His Heart, for the fruitfulness of His spouse, the Church, and the praise of Your glory. Amen.

Father Mark Kirby, OSB

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Jesus, eternal high Priest, divine Sanctifier, You who in an unspeakable burst of love for men who are Your brothers caused the Christian priesthood to spring forth from Your Sacred Heart: vouchsafe to pour upon Your priests continual living streams of infinite love.

Live in them, transform them into Yourself. Make them by Your Grace to be fit instruments of Your mercy. Act in them and through them and grant that they may become wholly one with You by their faithful imitation of Your virtues. And in Your Name and by the strength of Your spirit, may they do the works which You accomplished for the salvation of the world.

Return to us in the person of Your priest. Truly live in them. Act through them and so pass once more through the world teaching, forgiving, comforting, sacrificing, and renewing the sacred bonds of love between the Heart of God and the heart of man. Amen.

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Heavenly Father, grant that our priests be strengthened and healed by the power of the Eucharist they celebrate.  May the Word they proclaim give them courage and wisdom. We pray that all those whom they seek to serve May see in them the love and care of Jesus,  Our Eternal High Priest, who is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.

Mary, Mother of the Church, look tenderly upon your sons, our priests.  St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us all.

O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church: Grant it love and the light of Your Spirit
and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance
and return to You, O Lord. Lord, give us holy priests; You Yourself maintain them in holiness.

O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil’s snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests.  May the power of Your mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for You can do all things.

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Heavenly Father, grant that our priests be strengthened and healed by the power of the Eucharist they celebrate. May the Word they proclaim give them courage and wisdom.  We pray that all those whom they seek to serve may see in them the love and care of Jesus, Our Eternal High Priest, who is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.

Mary, Mother of the Church, look tenderly upon your sons, our priests. St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us all.

O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church: grant it love and the light of Your Spirit and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to You, O Lord.

O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church: grant love and the light of Your Spirit, and give power to the words of priests, so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to You, O Lord

Lord, give us holy priests; You Yourself maintain them in holiness. O divine and great High Priest may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil’s traps and snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests. May the power of Your mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to nought all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for You can do all things. 

From the Diary of Saint Faustina

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