Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

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Treasuring Our Priests and The Priesthood

July 19, 2015

What better day than a Sunday to acknowledge this fundamental Truth: Next to the Eucharist, the greatest gift God has left us is His priests. Were there no priests, there would be no Eucharist. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) How many of us treat our priests as the treasures they are? Do we pray for them and encourage them to live courageously and fully their priestly vocation? What are we waiting for? May the following observation of Father Suarez spur us to do both and also serve to inspire the priests who serve us:

PRAYER OF ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA

"Eternal Father, all things are possible for You. Although You created us without our assistance, You will not save us unless we help. Therefore, I pray You re-create their wills so that they wish for what they do not wish for: I ask this of Your infinite mercy. You have created us out of nothing. Now that we exist have mercy on us. Re-make the vessel which You created in Your own image and likeness. Bring them back to Your grace through the grace and blood of You Son, the beloved Jesus Christ."

Prayer for Our Priests

"O dear Jesus, look down with love on your priests. Fill them with burning zeal for the conversion of sinners; keep unstained their anointed hands which daily touch Your Immaculate Body; keep unsullied their lips purpled with Your Precious Blood; keep pure and unearthly a heart sealed with the sublime mark of Your glorious Priesthood. Bless their labors with abundant fruit, and may those to whom they have ministered on earth, be one day their joy and consolation in Heaven. Amen. (From Dominican Prayer Book)