Pray for Priests! [PRAYER]

Saint Pio from Pietrelcina ^ | 7-26-10 | mlizzy

[mlizzy]

Last night at Mass, our enlightened younger priest, who is from India, gave a homily that my teenage daughter referred to as "really good." I asked her what he said (I don't have my hearing), and she said he quoted saints and popes all throughout, adding in that people of great wealth (we live in a wealthy area) have difficulty putting time aside for prayer, that a survey claimed only four minutes per day on average for this group. At the end of Mass, our pastor, whose last day was yesterday, spoke at the lectern to say goodbye and he quoted Shrek and Billy Elliott. The contrast to my daughter (who well knows our pastor!) made her crack a bit of a smile. Hot or cold, pray for them all. For as Padre Pio said, "Do not doubt divine help."

[mlizzy]

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A PRAYER THREAD.
(See Free Republic's guidelines here.)

[agere_contra]

Padre Pio, St John Vianney, St Theresa of Lisieux, please pray for our priests.

Oh God, who have appointed Your only begotten Son to be Your Eternal High Priest for the glory of Your majesty and the salvation of mankind: grant that they whom He has chosen to be His ministers and the stewards of His mysteries, may be found faithful in the fulfillment of the ministries which they have received.

+ Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. +

[lastchance]

Amen.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Amen.

[trisham]

This is a prayer thread, friend. :)

[mlizzy]

Beautiful prayer (three of my favorites) — Amen!

[Gargantua]

I pray that all priests reject all false teachings, and find Salvation in the inerrant and perfect teachings of the True, biblical Christ. In Jesus' precious Name I do sincerely pray.

Amen.

[Salvation]

Continuing to pray for priests.

 

 

Jesus. High Priest

 

 

We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry.

Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love.

Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Lead them to new depths of union with your Son.

Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.

O Mary, Mother of Christ and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.

Intercede for our priests, that offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Saint John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us and our priests

[Salvation]

 

Prayer For Vocations

Lord, Jesus Christ, You are the Saviour of the world.

Please manifest in Your church, the Spirit whom You also abundantly bestowed on Your apostles.

Call many to the priesthood and religious life.

May zeal for Your glory and for the salvation of the world inflame those You have chosen.

May they be saints in Your likeness. May Your Holy Spirit strengthen them. May they be priests and religious according to Your own Heart.

 Amen

[Salvation]

O my Jesus,
save and sanctify all Your priests!
Let not one of those whom You have chosen
and anointed for Yourself be lost.
Let not the Evil One,
the sworn enemy of our souls,
overcome them,
but, rather, let Your Immaculate Mother
crush the head of the ancient serpent,
and, by her intercession
preserve Your priests in purity and in holiness of life. Amen.

[Melian]

Lord, please fill your vineyard with many strong, new vocations. Help our seminarians to find mentors who are nurturing, valiant and orthodox. Increase the number of seminaries that train our priests well. Fortify and encourage our current priests who labor alone under the constant cloud of suspicion. Keep all our seminarians and priests from the snares of the devil. Help the Church to root out all those who are addicted to a life of sin. Inspire those who are liberal to retire. And, Lord, if you could please send the Holy Spirit to guide our priests into giving homilies that are firm and instructive, we would really appreciate it. I ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen

mlizzy, I found a laminated card with a picture of Padre Pio on it and a tiny piece of brown cloth in it. I was wondering, what are relics of St. Pio used to cure? Does he have a specialty?

[mlizzy]

Love for priests
is best expressed in prayer and in sacrifice for them.
Christ's faithful need to learn, once again,
to reverence His priests,
for by showing reverence to priests,
they are, in effect, summoning them to holiness.
Reverence shown a priest is never misplaced
for Our Lord receives it as reverence shown to His own Divine Person.

Even when the priestly Face of Christ is disfigured, dishonoured,
and vilified in a particular priest,
that priest remains, nonetheless, the anointed one of the Lord.
The priest fallen on the field of spiritual combat
or deceived by the enemy and led into sin,
remains an image of Christ the Priest.
In the fallen priest, Christ shows His Face
ally bloody, tumefied, and disfigured
as He showed it to Veronica
in His most bitter Passion.

Where are the Veronicas who will minister to Christ's fallen priests?
Who will wipe their faces?
Who will show them tenderness, reverence, and compassion?
Who will console them in their humiliations,
in their sorrow, their defeat, and their abjection?
Christ searches for souls to console His priests,
-- and to console Him living in them --
and He finds so few.
His fallen priests are reviled, mocked,
and handed over to public scorn.

--"Our Lord Will Sanctify His Priests," Fr. Mark Kirby (cont. reading at link)

[mlizzy]

Love for priests
is best expressed in prayer and in sacrifice for them.
Christ's faithful need to learn, once again,
to reverence His priests,
for by showing reverence to priests,
they are, in effect, summoning them to holiness.
Reverence shown a priest is never misplaced
for Our Lord receives it as reverence shown to His own Divine Person.

Even when the priestly Face of Christ is disfigured, dishonoured,
and vilified in a particular priest,
that priest remains, nonetheless, the anointed one of the Lord.
The priest fallen on the field of spiritual combat
or deceived by the enemy and led into sin,
remains an image of Christ the Priest.
In the fallen priest, Christ shows His Face
ally bloody, tumefied, and disfigured
as He showed it to Veronica
in His most bitter Passion.

Where are the Veronicas who will minister to Christ's fallen priests?
Who will wipe their faces?
Who will show them tenderness, reverence, and compassion?
Who will console them in their humiliations,
in their sorrow, their defeat, and their abjection?
Christ searches for souls to console His priests,
-- and to console Him living in them --
and He finds so few.
His fallen priests are reviled, mocked,
and handed over to public scorn.

--"Our Lord Will Sanctify His Priests," Fr. Mark Kirby (cont. reading at link)

[mlizzy]

And, Lord, if you could please send the Holy Spirit to guide our priests into giving homilies that are firm and instructive, we would really appreciate it.

*smiling at the quote above* Hi Melian! -- Padre Pio is the patron saint of confessors and may be invoked for help in making a good confession. That's the information I found so far. As far as relics, I'm still looking as to what his specialty is. I imagine the healing of any type of wound would be one of them, but that's just a guess. On this site, there are wonderful photographs of Padre Pio. They state that he was the only Roman Catholic priest to receive the stigmata. I hadn't realized that.

[mlizzy]

This is interesting:

In February of 1916, he was sent to the convent of saint Anna in Foggia in search of a more suitable place for his frail health. But even there he continued to feel sick: vomiting, sudden sweats, dizziness, and a very high fever. At night, terrifying noises came from his room. They ended with a boom that would shake the walls and terrorize the other friars. He told father Benedetto that it was the devil who, unable to win, exploded in fits of rage. In July 1916, he went for a supposedly brief stay to the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo, just for the summer. The climate appeared to be beneficial to him, and instead of a few weeks, he stayed there for 52 years, until his death.

[mlizzy]

Welcome back, Salvation, and yours is a beautiful prayer for priests. I like to imagine conversation between Sts. John Vianney and Padre Pio in heaven.

[mlizzy]

"Focus on and remove the defect that most prevents you from joining God" --Padre Pio.

"Don't you know that good works are the fruit of many tears and of a lot of suffering?" --Padre Pio.

St. Padre Pio, please pray for priests!

[Melian]

That is interesting. I went and looked at the site. I was especially interested to see his hands without the gloves. I had never seen that. I thought maybe his three miracles required for canonization might reveal his “specialty.” Also, I had not realized St. Francis was a deacon, not a priest!

[mlizzy]

I had not realized that either about St. Francis! If you go to this site and listen to the Gregorian Chant at the same time as viewing the photos/reading Padre Pio's site, it makes for a one-two spiritual punch, and it's hard to leave. I'm sure I've spent hours on that particular site over the years. The photos send me somewhere else more ethereal.