Why Pray 4 Priests
- We are an apostolate, inspired by love for the church and in response we pray for the Sanctification of Priests.
- We intercede for all priests in order to help them with their self-offering, prayers and penance.
- We pray to unite priests to the Priestly Heart of Jesus.
- We thank God for all priests who, like Simeon, have given us decades of faithful service. We pray that they may be rewarded for their generosity and self-sacrifice.
- We pray that priests will always be found going about their Father's business, and will be obedient to the teaching magisterium of the Church, our Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him.
- We pray for all priests who daily, through the words of the consecration at Mass, and through Holy Communion, bring us the Body and Blood of Christ.
- We pray that every priest will consider himself a member of the Holy Family, a true son of Mary and Joseph, and a brother-priest of Jesus, the great High Priest.
- We pray also that Priests may treasure the gift of celibacy.
- We pray that all seminarians grow in knowledge and love of God to become holy priests.
- We pray that all priests who are suffering and on the way to Calvary may be comforted by God's presence; those who have betrayed or denied the Faith through weakness may repent and return to the warmth of God's love.
- We pray for priests who are persecuted, physically or mentally abused; those who are imprisoned or prevented from offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or receiving Holy Communion.
- We pray for those priests living under Communist oppression.
- We pray for priests who suffer for defending authentic Catholic doctrine.
- We pray that all Bishops will uphold the true teachings of the Catholic Church and resist temptations to compromise doctrine in the face of cultural and social pressures.
- We pray also for all priests whose hearts are pierced by loneliness, depression and rejection.
- We pray for all priests with heavy crosses; those who are weak, lonely, or have fallen from God's grace in some way.
- We pray for the Holy Father, who perhaps has the heaviest of crosses: the widespread persecution and abandonment of the Church from within and without.
- We pray for all priests who are in their last agony and those who will die today.
- We pray for those who thirst for the salvation of souls.
- We pray that the crucifixion of their wills may accomplish God's designs for the salvation of the whole world.
- We pray that priests may take Mary into their hearts, as St. John the Apostle, one of the first priests, took Mary into his home.
- At times, priests may suffer from depression and despair that plague them when they see so little from their labors.
- We pray that priests will remember: the Crucifixion is followed by the Resurrection; darkness is always followed by Light.
- We pray that all priests may share the joy of the Risen Christ.
- We pray for missionaries who live lives of utter poverty and deprivation to bring the Gospel to all the people.
- We pray that priests may be open to the graces of the Holy Ghost to strengthen them for the task of bringing souls to God and God to souls.
- We pray that they may be on fire to convert the most hardened sinners, and to bring God's love to the whole world.
- We pray that priests will be devoted to Mary and find in her the love and comfort of a mother, the most powerful intercession of our greatest Saint, and the surest refuge against Satan and his cohorts who seek destruction of priests and the Priesthood.
- We pray that Mary, Queen of the Clergy, will be their model of faith and joy, and constant guide until they reach Heaven where a crown, jeweled with the many souls entrusted to them on the day of Ordination, will be their reward for faithful and loving service.
Prayer for Priests
Jesus, our great High Priest, hear my humble prayers on behalf of Thy priests. Give them a deep faith, a bright and firm hope and a burning love which will ever increase in the course of their priestly life. In their loneliness, comfort them. In their sorrows, strengthen them. In their frustrations, point out to them that it is through suffering that the soul is purified, and show them that they are needed by the Church; they are needed by souls; they are needed for the work of redemption.
Loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests, take to your heart your sons who are close to you because of their priestly ordination and because of the power which they have received to carry on the work of Christ in a world which needs them so much. Be their comfort, be their joy, be their strength, and especially help them tolive and to defend the ideals of consecrated celibacy.
AMEN