Prayerbook, Prayers for all occasions, Priests and Religious

The news media is full of attacks and criticism of priests and religious. Please include these prayers as part of your daily prayer routine to request that almighty God give them strength and dedication in their calling. Priests are messengers of God's Truth, dispensers of His Sacraments, announcers of Divine Law. They are ordained for your sake.

"One should NEVER attack a priest, even when he's in error; rather, one should pray and do penance that I'll grant him MY grace again. He alone fully represents Me, even when he doesn't live after My example!" (Page 29, Mutter Vogel's Worldwide Love, St. Grignion Publishing House, Altoting, Sough Germany (29.6. 1929).

When a priest fails, we should extend him a helping hand THROUGH PRAYER AND NOT THROUGH ATTACKS! I Myself will be his judge, NO ONE BUT I!" "Whoever voices judgment over a priest has voiced it over me; child, never let a priest be attacked, take up his defense." (Feast of Christ the King, 1937) "Child, never judge your confessor, rather pray much for him and offer every Thursday, through the hands of My Blessed Mother, Holy Communion (for Him) (18.6 1939). "Never again accept an out-of-the-way word about a priest, and speak no unkind word (about them) EVEN IF IT WERE TRUE! Every priest is My Vicar and My heart will be sickened and insulted because of it! If you hear a judgment (against a priest) pray a Hail Mary.: (28.6 1939)

"If you see a priest who celebrates the Holy Mass unworthily, then say nothing about him, rather tell it to Me alone! I stand beside Him on the altar!" "Oh, pray much for my priest, that they'll love purity above all, that they'll celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with pure hands and heart. Certainly the Holy Sacrifice is one and the same even when it's celebrated by an unworthy priest, but the graces called down upon the people is not the same!" (28.2 1938)

O Jesus, I pray for Your faithful and fervent priests; for Your unfaithful and tepid priests; for Your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Your tempted priests; for Your lonely and desolate priests; for Your young priests; for Your dying priests; for the souls of Your priests in Purgatory.

But above all, I recommend to You the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priest at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion; all the priest who taught and instructed me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way (especially...).

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart, and Bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.

O Holy Mother of God, pray for the priests your Son has chosen to serve the Church. Help them, by your intercession, to be holy, zealous and chaste. Make them models of virtue in the service of God's people. Help them to be pious in meditation, efficacious in preaching, and zealous in the daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Help them administer the Sacraments with love and joy. Amen.

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 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 naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for You can do all things. I ask You, Jesus, for a special blessing and for light for the priests before whom I will make my confessions throughout my lifetime. Amen.

Heavenly Father, Your Divine Son taught us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His vineyard. We earnestly beg You to bless our Diocese and our world with many priest who will love You fervently; and gladly and courageously spend their lives in service to Your Son's Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We pray that their lives may be always centered on our Eucharistic Lord; that they be always faithful to the Holy Father; and that they may be devoted sons of Mary, our Mother, in making You known and loved; and that all may attain Heaven. Bless our families and our children and choose from our home those whom You desire for this holy work. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

O Lord, send workers for Your harvest, so that the commands of Your only-begotten Son may always be obeyed and His Sacrifice be everywhere renewed. Look with favor upon Your family, and ever increase its numbers. Enable it to lead its sons and daughters to the holiness to which they are called and to work for the salvation of others. Amen.

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 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.

My Dear Jesus, Thou desirest that we pray the Lord of the harvest that He send zealous laborers into His harvest. Deign to raise up in Thy Church, and especially in this diocese, numerous and holy priest who, taking Thy Divine Heart as their Model, will, in the exercise of their holy priesthood, promote the glory of Thy heavenly Father and the salvation of those souls whom Thou has redeemed with Thy Precious Blood. Give us truly holy priests who, inflamed with the fire of Thy divine love, seek nothing but Thy greater glory and the salvation of souls.

O Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us; obtain for us a number of holy priests. Amen.

O my Most Sweet Jesus, O Jesus, Eternal High Priest, keep Your priests in the shelter of Your Sacred Heart, where no one can hurt them. Keep their anointed hands unsullied, which daily handle Your Sacred Body. Keep pure the lips which are reddened with Your Precious Blood. Keep pure and unworldly their hearts which are sealed with the sublime token of Your glorious priesthood. Cause them to grow in love and loyalty to You and protect them from the contamination of the world. With their power of transforming bread and wine, give them the power of transforming hearts. Bless their work with rich fruit and grant them one day the crown of eternal life. Amen.

Hear Your servant and look not upon the multitude of my sins. I beseech You, direct the hearts and wills of the servants of Your Bride, the Holy Church, unto Yourself so that they may follow the poor, bleeding, humble, and gentle Lamb of God on the way of the Cross. Make them angels in the shape of men; for after all, they have to administer and distribute the Body and Blood of Your Only Begotten Son! Amen.

Lord Jesus, live in all Priests, help those who are faithful to remain faithful. Help those who have forgotten the grandeur of their sublime vocation to begin to be faithful shepherds again. Grant Father the grace so to appreciate the grace of his oneness with You that he will seek for no greater joy than Your love and the privilege of bringing It to others. Amen.

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, in union with St. Joseph. Amen.

My dear Jesus, by Your most loving Heart, I implore You to inflame with zeal for Your love and glory all the priests of the world, all missionaries, and those whose office it is to preach Your word. Inflamed with this zeal, may they snatch souls from the devil and lead them into the shelter of Your Heart, where they may glorify You forever. Amen.

Eternal Father, creator of all things, we reverence Your continued grace and presence in the priesthood of You only begotten Son, now shared by Him with men. In the weakness which You know, some of those called to participate in the priesthood of the eternal high priest have fallen from the heights to which they were summoned. Do not, we beg You, cast them forever from Your sight. Be mindful, rather, of their hearts as they were touched by Your grace in the beginnings of their priesthood. Restore to them by a flood of Your grace that generosity which they knew in life's morning. Amen.

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.

Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, Who hast entrusted the whole work of Thy Redemption, the welfare and salvation of the world, to priests as Thy representatives, I offer Thee through the hands of Thy most holy Mother, all the prayers, works, sacrifices, joys and sorrows of this day for the sanctification of Thy priests.

Give us truly holy priests who seek nothing but Thy greater glory and the salvation of our souls. Bless their words and prayers at the altar, in the confessional, in the pulpit, in all their work for the young, the sick and the aged.

Do thou, O Mary, Mother of the High Priest, protect all priests from dangers to their holy vocation. Obtain for me a true spirit of faith and humble obedience so that I may ever behold the priest as the representative of God and willingly follow him in the Way, the Truth and the Life of Christ. Amen.

O Almighty Eternal God, look upon the face of Thy Son, and for the love of Him Who is the Eternal High-priest, have mercy on Thy priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the Bishop's hands. Keep them close to Thee, lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of their sublime vocation.

O Jesus, I pray Thee for Thy faithful and fervent priests; for Thy unfaithful and tepid priests; for Thy priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Thy tempted priests; for Thy lonely and desolate priests; for Thy young priests; for Thy dying priests; for the souls of Thy priests in purgatory.

But above all I commend to Thee the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me or helped me and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly (mention name). O Jesus, keep them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.