Fr. James Farfaglia: Penitential Season of Advent

"Advent is a penitential season because Christmas is about our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not about external celebrations. The external celebrations should be seen as a visible manifestation of our joy of being disciples of Jesus Christ."

"Advent, as a penitential season, prepares us to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord's first coming as the incarnate God of love. As a penitential time, Advent helps us examine the condition of our soul."

"As disciples of the Lord we have so many ways to sleep. We can sleep by putting off the sacrament of Confession. We can sleep by not committing ourselves to a life of prayer. We can sleep by giving in to the temptations of secularism. We can sleep by "not being too hard on ourselves". We can sleep by being satisfied with being "good people" rather than striving for holiness. We can sleep by rationalizing our own sloth and laziness. We can sleep by dulling our conscience. Tepidity is a very dangerous obstacle to our eternal salvation. Advent is a time to wake up. "

"As we begin Advent, we must also remember that the celebration of Christmas does not begin until Christmas Eve and it does not end until the Epiphany. Christmas season does not begin on Thanksgiving Day and end on December 26th. It is the Church that directs that our celebration of Christmas, not the stores. We must not be caught up in the materialism around us.

"The manger should be set up in the home as of the first Sunday of Advent and according to our Catholic traditions, it should not be removed until February 2, which is the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Christmas trees can be erected in the home according to the customs of each family. It is a good practice to keep the Christmas tree up until the Epiphany.

"Every nationality will have their own particular customs and traditions. However, we must keep in mind that Advent is Advent and that the Christmas Season does not liturgically begin until the Vigil Mass of Christmas on December 24 and it does not liturgically end until the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord."

For Father Farfaglia's excellent Advent homily in its entirety click here.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Eucharistic Adoration: Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI

"He is present now as He was then in Bethlehem.

He invites us to that inner pilgrimage which is called adoration."

~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

AN APPEAL FOR ONE HOUR OF EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR PRIESTS

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal: Conversions and Vocations to the Priesthood

The most remarkable miracle was the conversion of Alphonse Ratisbonne, a wealthy Jewish banker and lawyer and also a blasphemer and hater of Catholicism, in 1841. A Catholic friend, M. de Bussieres, gave him a medal, daring him to wear it and say a Memorare. After considerable persuasion he agreed to do so. Not long after, Alphonse accompanied M. de Bussieres to the Church of Sant ' Andrea delle Frate to make funeral arrangements for a dear friend. There Alphonse saw a vision of Mary as on the Miraculous Medal. He was converted instantly and immediately begged for Baptism.

Alphonse Ratisbonne later went on to become a priest, taking the name of Father Alphonse Marie. Working for thirty years in the Holy Land, he established several institutions. Out of reverence and gratitude to Our Savior, he built the expiatory sanctuary of the Ecce Homo on the spot where Pilate displayed Jesus to the Jews. So great was the love he had for his people, that he dedicated the remainder of his life, as did his brother, Father Theodore, to work for the conversion of their immortal souls. Among the converts of these two priest brothers were a total of twenty eight members of their own family.

~ Excerpt from: Saint Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal ~

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For a more detailed account read Our Lady of the Miracle .

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Thanks to a reader for sharing this link that tells how a young seminarian, Maximilian Kolbe, was inspired by hearing the Miraculous Medal conversion story of Alphonse Ratisbonne and how, after ordination, he said his first Mass at the altar where Our Lady appeared to Alphonse!

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Advent: A Penitential Season

In 1927 Jesus complained to Blessed Dina Belanger about Catholics doing little or no penance during Advent:

"I have need of reparation. The justice of My Father is enkindled. Offer to My Father My merits and My Blood to appease the arm of His Justice. How many Catholics concern themselves little or not at all with penance during the season of Advent! How many Catholics neglect to prepare for My coming at Christmas! Give Me your day, today, in spirit of atonement. Offer it also in Thanksgiving to My Father for all the graces He bestows on souls; for there are so many who never think of thanking Him.

~ Jesus to Blessed Dina Belanger, from Autobiography of Dina Belanger ~

To Learn more about Advent read All About Advent.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession for Priests

Lord Jesus,

You have chosen Your priests from among us

and sent them out to proclaim Your word and act in Your Name.
For so great a gift to Your Church, we give You praise and thanksgiving,

we ask You to fill them with the fire of Your Love,

that their ministry may reveal Your presence in the Church.

Since they are earthen vessels,

we pray that Your power shine out through their weakness.

In their afflictions let them never be crushed; in their doubts, never despair;

in temptation, never be destroyed; in persecution, never abandoned.

Inspire them through prayer to live each day the mystery of Your dying and rising.

In times of weakness, send Your SPIRIT,

and help them to praise Your Heavenly FATHER and pray for the poor sinners.
By the same HOLY SPIRIT put Your word on their lips and Your love in their hearts,

to bring good news to the poor and healing to the broken-hearted.
And may the gift of Mary, Your Mother,

to the disciple whom You loved, be your gift to every priest.

Grant that she who formed You in her human image,

may form them in Your Divine Image,

by the power of Your SPIRIT,

to the glory of GOD the FATHER. Amen.

~ Source: Chalice of Strength from Opus Sanctorum Angelorum ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Prayer to St. Joseph for Priests

PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

O ILLUSTRIOUS PATRIARCH St. Joseph,

who carried the Infant Jesus in thy blessed arms and who,

during the space of thirty years,

lived in the most intimate familiarity with Him,

take under thy powerful protection
those whom He has clothed with His authority

and honored with with the dignity of His priesthood,

whom He has charged to continue His mission,
to preach His Gospel,

and to dispense everywhere His graces and blessings.

Sustain them in their fatigues and labors;

console them in their pains;

fortify them in their combats; but above all,
keep far from them all the evils of sin.
Obtain for them the humility of St. John the Baptist,

the faith of St. Peter, the zeal and charity of St. Paul, the purity of St. John
and the spirit of prayer and recollection of which thou, my dear Saint,

art the model, so that, after having been on earth,
the faithful dispensers of the Mysteries of thy foster Son,

Our Lord Jesus Christ,

they may in Heaven receive the recompense promised to pastors

according to the Heart of God.

Amen.

~ From Favorite Prayers to St. Joseph ~

Tan Books and Publishers

God the Father's Counsel to St. Catherine of Siena About Criticizing Priests

God the Father spoke to St. Catherine of Siena about his “ministers,” the priests. She recorded it in her Dialogue:

…[It] is my intention that they be held in due reverence, not for what they are in themselves, but for my sake, because of the authority I have given them. Therefore the virtuous must not lessen their reverence, even should these ministers fall short in virtue. And, as far as the virtues of my ministers are concerned, I have described them for you by setting them before you as stewards of... my Son’s body and blood and of the other sacraments. This dignity belongs to all who are appointed as such stewards, to the bad as well as to the good.

…[Because] of their virtue and because of their sacramental dignity you ought to love them. And you ought to hate the sins of those who live evil lives. But you may not for all that set ourselves up as their judges; this is not my will because they are my Christs, and you ought to love and reverence the authority I have given them.

You know well enough that if someone filthy or poorly dressed were to offer you a great treasure that would give you life, you would not disdain the bearer for love of the treasure, and the lord who had sent it, even though the bearer was ragged and filthy... You ought to despise and hate the ministers’ sins and try to dress them in the clothes of charity and holy prayer and wash away their filth with your tears.

Indeed, I have appointed them and given them to you to be angels on earth and suns, as I have told you. When they are less than that you ought to pray for them. But you are not to judge them. Leave the judging to me, and I, because of your prayers and my own desire, will be merciful to them. [1]

Is judging the same as criticizing? It’s close. The Random House American College Dictionary defines the word “criticize” as “1. To make judgments as to merits and faults. 2. To find fault.”

Clearly, the Lord wants prayers, not judgment for his priests. Alas, how sad that some are far more ready to judge (and criticize) priests than they are to pray for them! Imagine how much better off the Church would be if all the energy given to criticizing priests and bishops were devoted to prayer and penance for these men; and how much better off those who prayed and fasted would be!

1.Catherine of Siena; The Dialogue, translated by Suzanne Noffke, O.P., New York: Paulist Press, 1980, pp. 229-231

Excerpt from The Danger of Criticizing Bishops and Priests by Rev. Thomas G. Morrow

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Spiritual Formation of Priests

"The good pastor must be rooted in contemplation.

Only in this way will he be able to take upon himself the needs of others

and make them his own!"

~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

"Through the teaching and mentoring provided in the program I have deepened in my prayer life, and it has made me a better pastor, confessor, spiritual director and vocation director. The classes have been the most significant spiritual event in my young priesthood."

~ Rev. James Mason ~
Vocation Director,
Diocese of Sioux Falls

Institute for Priestly Formation information here

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Christ the King Sovereign Priest

16. Christ as our Redeemer purchased the Church at the price of his own blood; as priest he offered himself, and continues to offer himself as a victim for our sins. Is it not evident, then, that his kingly dignity partakes in a manner of both these offices?

17. It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power. Nevertheless, during his life on earth he refrained from the exercise of such authority, and although he himself disdained to possess or to care for earthly goods, he did not, nor does he today, interfere with those who possess them. Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat caelestia.[27]

18. Thus the empire of our Redeemer embraces all men. To use the words of Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII: "His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ."[28] Nor is there any difference in this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society. "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved."[29] He is the author of happiness and true prosperity for every man and for every nation. "For a nation is happy when its citizens are happy. What else is a nation but a number of men living in concord?"[30] If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ. What We said at the beginning of Our Pontificate concerning the decline of public authority, and the lack of respect for the same, is equally true at the present day. "With God and Jesus Christ," we said, "excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation."[31]

19. When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony...

~ Quas Primas, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI, December 11, 1925 ~

Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Blessed Rev. Miguel Agustin Pro: Priest Hero and Martyr

"I am ready to give my life for souls, but I want nothing for myself. All that I want is to lead them to God. If I kept anything for myself, I should be a thief, infamous; I should no longer be a priest."

~ Blessed Rev. Miguel Agustin Pro ~

Excellent articles on Blessed Pro by Bishhop Thomas J. Olmsted:

Part one : Jesuit Priest and Martyr

Part two: Joyful priest and grateful martyr

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Holy Wounds of Jesus: Message, Promises, Prayers

PLEASE OFFER THE HOLY WOUNDS OF JESUS FOR PRIESTS!

"My Holy Wounds sanctify souls and insure their spiritual advancement... Offer Me your actions united to My Sacred Wounds, and even the smallest will have an incomprehensible value."

"Offer them often to Me for sinners because I thirst for souls. At each word of the invocation that you utter, I will let a drop of My Blood fall upon the soul of a sinner."

"When you offer My Holy Wounds for sinners, you must not forget to do so for the souls in Purgatory, as there are but few who think of their relief. The Holy Wounds are the treasure of treasures for the souls in Purgatory."

~ Jesus to Sr. Mary Martha Chambon ~

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If you want to have a better understanding of what Jesus suffered for us and why the Church is wise in requiring penance on Fridays, please watch the following video.

Promises of Our Lord for those who are Devoted to His Wounds - given to Sr. Mary Martha Chambon:

† At each word that you pronounce of the Chaplet of the Holy Wounds, I allow a drop of My Blood to fall upon the soul of a sinner.
† Each time that you offer to My Father the merits of My divine Wounds, you win an immense fortune.
† Souls that will have contemplated and honored My crown of thorns on earth, will be My crown of glory in Heaven!
† I will grant all that is asked of Me through the invocation of My Holy Wounds. You will obtain everything, because it is through the merit of My Blood, which is of infinite price. With My Wounds and My Divine Heart, everything can be obtained.
† From My Wounds proceed fruits of sanctity. As gold purified in the crucible becomes more beautiful, so you must put your soul and those of your companions into My sacred Wounds; there they will become perfected as gold in the furnace. You can always purify yourself in My Wounds.
† My Wounds will repair yours. My Wounds will cover all your faults. Those who honor them will have a true knowledge of Jesus Christ. In meditation on them, you will always find a new love. My wounds will cover all your sins.
† Plunge your actions into My Wounds and they will be of value. All your actions, even the least, soaked in My Blood, will acquire by this alone an infinite merit and will please My Heart.
† In offering My Wounds for the conversion of sinners, even though the sinners are not converted, you will have the same merit before God as if they were.
† When you have some trouble, something to suffer, quickly place it in My Wounds, and the pain will be alleviated.
† This aspiration must often be repeated near the sick: "My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of Your Holy Wounds!" This prayer will solace soul and body.
† A sinner who will say the following prayer will obtain conversion: "Eternal Father, I offer You the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal those of our souls."
† There will be no death for the soul that expires in My Holy Wounds; they give true life.
† This chaplet is a counterpoise to My justice; it restrains My vengeance.
† Those who pray with humility and who meditate on My Passion, will one day participate in the glory of My divine Wounds.
† The more you will have contemplated My painful Wounds on this earth, the higher will be your contemplation of them glorious in Heaven.
† The soul who during life has honored the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ and has offered them to the Eternal Father for the Souls in Purgatory, will be accompanied at the moment of death by the Holy Virgin and the angels; and Our Lord on the Cross, all brilliant in glory, will receive her and crown her.
† The invocations of the Holy Wounds will obtain an incessant victory for the Church.
(Nihil obstat: Rev. Terry Tekippe, Censor Librorum. Imprimatur: + Most Rev. Francis B. Shulte, Archbishop of New Orleans, 29 December 1989.)

Chaplet of the Holy Wounds:
Use a Rosary beads. Start with these aspirations: †
- O Jesus, Divine Redeemer, be merciful to us and to the whole world. Amen.
- Strong God, Holy God, Immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen.
- Grace and mercy, O my Jesus, during present dangers; cover us with Thy Precious Blood. Amen.
- Eternal Father, grant us mercy through the Blood of Jesus Christ, Thy only Son; grant us mercy, we beseech Thee. Amen, Amen, Amen.

The following prayers, composed by Our Lord, are to be said on the Our Father (large) beads:

- Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls.

On the Hail Mary (small) beads:

- My Jesus, pardon and mercy, through the merits of Thy Holy Wounds.

After 5 decades, you can finish it saying 3 times:

- Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Imploring Graces for Priests

"Offer yourself as a victim for My priests.

Unite yourself to My sacrifice for gaining them graces.”

~ Jesus to Venerable Conchita, Diary, Sept. 24, 1927 ~


THE OFFERING OF THE INCARNATE WORD

Heavenly Father, through the hands of Mary, we offer You, as a victim, the Incarnate Word, in whom You are well pleased. Compelled by the love that the Holy Spirit has over flooded in our hearts, we will constantly offer ourselves, in His union, as living hosts, and we will sacrifice ourselves for Your love, in all the occasions that may arise, imploring graces for the world, the Church and especially for priests. Jesus, savior of all people, save them!

From Apostleship of the Cross

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

St. Jean Vianney, Model of Priestly Holiness

MORE ABOUT ST. JEAN VIANNEY, PATRON SAINT OF ALL PRIESTS

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Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's Request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Prayer to Our Lady, Mother of Sorrows, for Priests

Our Lady, Mother of Sorrows,
pray for Priests, your special sons.

Strengthen their faith and love of Jesus
in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
so that they may turn to Him
for the grace they need to live
a life faithful to their calling.

Bring comfort,
consolation and courage
to those who are suffering
under the weight of the Cross.
Give them the love of your Son
and zeal for the honor and glory of God,
and the salvation of souls. Amen

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal high Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Priests' Lives Must be Centered on the Eucharist

"Priests have no choice, the psychological pressure from the world, the flesh and the devil are too strong to cope with by themselves. The Holy Eucharist must remain if it already is or become, if it is not, the mainstay of their priestly lives. This is no option. It is a law of spiritual survival in every age and with thunderous emphasis, for Catholic priests in our day."

"No doubt the Eucharistic faith and devotion of priests are crucially important in the priestly apostolate. 'Like priest, like people' is a truism of the Church's history. But 'like Eucharist, like priest' is also a sobering fact of the Church's biography.

"Priests are as selfish and chaste, as sacrificing and humble, as their lives are centered on the Eucharist. The daily and devout offering of the Mass, the daily Holy Hour and frequent benediction, the frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament--these are not superficial priestly devotions. They are expressions of a profound love for Jesus Christ, now living and offering Himself for our sanctification on earth on our way to eternity."

~ Servant of God Rev. John Hardon ~

AN APPEAL FOR ONE HOUR OF EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR PRIESTS

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

St. Jean Vianney Compares Good Works to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

"All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God.

Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God;

but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man."

~ Saint Jean Vianney ~

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Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Fr. Emil Kapaun: A Documentary to Look Forward To

From the Wichita Eagle:

"Father Emil Kapaun of Pilsen, Kansas died a hero in a North Korean POW camp in 1951. His message of hope and never giving up still resonates today. The family of Chase Kear hoped that praying to Kapaun would help heal Chase, who was critically injured in 2008. Now the Vatican is investigating whether Chase Kear is a miracle, and whether Kapaun deserves to be a saint."

Previous Post on Fr. Emil Kapaun

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

The Holy Sacrifice of Jesus

PANGE LINGUA
(by St. Thomas Aquinas)

Of the glorious Body telling,
O my tongue, its mysteries sing,
And the Blood, all price excelling,
Which the world's eternal King,
In a noble womb once dwelling
Shed for the world's ransoming.

Given for us, descending,
Of a Virgin to proceed,
Man with man in converse blending,
Scattered he the Gospel seed,
Till his sojourn drew to ending,
Which he closed in wondrous deed.

At the last great Supper lying
Circled by his brethren's band,
Meekly with the law complying,
First he finished its command
Then, immortal Food supplying,
Gave himself with his own hand.

Word made Flesh, by word he maketh
Very bread his Flesh to be;
Man in wine Christ's Blood partaketh:
And if senses fail to see,
Faith alone the true heart waketh
To behold the mystery.

Therefore we, before him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here;
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
Makes the inward vision clear.

Glory let us give, and blessing
To the Father and the Son;
Honour, might, and praise addressing,
While eternal ages run;
Ever too his love confessing,
Who, from both, with both is one.
Amen.

R. Thou hast given them bread from heaven.
V. Having within it all sweetness.

Let us pray:

O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament left us a memorial of Thy Passion:

grant, we implore Thee,

that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Blood,

as always to be conscious of the fruit of Thy Redemption.

Thou who livest and reignest forever and ever.
R. Amen.
(Source)

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

In the Presence of God and His Angels

"Let us consider, then,

how we ought to behave

in the presence of God and His angels."

~ Rule of St. Benedict ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

A True and Perfect Sacrifice

"The priest who imitates that which Christ did,

truly takes the place of Christ,

and offers there in the Church

a true and perfect sacrifice."

~ Saint Cyprian (258 A.D.) ~

The video below highlights the beautiful and touching 2009 Priest Ordinations at St. Marys Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Oregon. Thanks be to God, on Saturday, June 13, 2009, Archbishop John Vlazny ordained seven men to the priesthood. They were Fr. Eric Andersen, Fr. Fred Anthony, Fr. Mariano Escano, Fr. David Jaspers, Fr. Theodore Lange, Fr. Thomas Layton and Fr. Cary Reniva.

Thank you to Catholicdadof4 who commented:

Notice at 1:18 the priests give their mothers the cloth that was wrapped around their hands at the time of ordination. Tradition is when she dies it is placed underneath her head. When she meets Christ in judgment, and he asks, "what did you do ...for me?" she can say, "I gave you a priest to serve your people." Mothers encourage your sons to be a priest!

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Reparation Needed for Priests in Purgatory

"Tell the Father that if he wishes to please St. Michael, he will most earnestly recommend devotion to the souls in Purgatory. People in the world do not think of it. When they have lost their relatives or friends, they say a few prayers, weep for a few days and that is the end of it. The souls are henceforth abandoned. It is true that they merit this, for while they were on earth they neglected the dead. The Divine Judge deals with us in this world according to our actions in the former. Those who have forgotten the holy souls are forgotten in their turn. This is only fair. Perhaps if they had been reminded to pray for the dead and had been told a little about Purgatory, they might have acted differently."

"If only it were given to you to understand with what scorn and indifference Jesus is treated on earth, not only by the world in general, but how he is insulted, mocked and held in derision even by those who ought to love Him. Such indifference is even found among religious communities of men and women, His chosen people, where He ought to be treated as a Friend, a Father, a Spouse. Often He does not even receive the consideration shown to a stranger.

The indifference is also found among the clergy...He is treated as an equal by those who should tremble at the thought of the awful and august mission with which they have been entrusted. The most sacred reality is often treated with coldness and boredom. How many are those who have the interior spirit? I can assure you there are but few. Here in Purgatory the priests who are expiating their indifference and their want of love are numerous. Their culpable negligence must be atoned for...You can judge from this that God who is so good and loving to all His creatures finds few who love and console Him."

The above quotes are taken from An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory, revelations of a nun soul in Purgatory to a nun that she had lived with while on earth (chosen by God to aid in her deliverance from Purgatory). The revelation about lack of an interior spirit echoes the message given by Jesus to Blessed Dina Belanger: "Offer to My Father, for My priests, the spirit of prayer of My divine Heart, My spirit of contemplation, the perfect union of My Heart with Him. That is what is lacking in so many of My priests; a spirit of prayer, an intense interior life."

Our Catholic priests accept great responsibilities for God, His Church and for souls. It is only just that we who benefit from their priestly ministry should be charitable to them after their death. According to St. Padre Pio, "...we priests have more responsibilities before God, and when we appear before Him it is with fear and trembling."

To read what Jesus said to Venerable Concepcion about helping priests in Purgatory and for suggestions of ways to help priest souls click here.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI: Bishop of Rome

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Order of the Holy Cross: Year for Priests Presentation

The Order of the Holy Cross has a very beautiful and touching video for this Year for Priests. It includes many quotes of St. Jean Vianney on the priesthood. (Video recommended by Diane at Te Deum Laudamus).

The Order of the Holy Cross also has another excellent site, Crusade for Priests.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the holy spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Prayer to Implore the Intercession of Pope John Paul II

O Blessed Trinity, we thank you for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit , to shine through him.

Trusting fully in your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you.

Grant us, by his intercession, and according to your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Prayer for Priests in Purgatory

My Jesus,

by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden,

in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns,

in the Way to Calvary,

in Thy Crucifixion and Death,

have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory,

especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them.

I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me,

the priests my heart has never forgotten,

and those I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory.

Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure;

call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them!

Amen.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Priests in Purgatory Wait for Help From Charitable Souls

"These priestly souls, straying and sunken in abominable vices, when they are repentant and saved, they have an incalculable purgatory, and they give Me grief and my Heart of love is moved when seeing them suffer. I am not able according to the laws established by Me, I, WHO CAN DO EVERYTHING, to diminish their purgatory, if the militant Church does not apply my infinite merits to them.

"I have here another pain for my Heart that no one sees, nor knows of it, nor grasps all its extension and it is this: seeing myself as idle, without being able in a certain sense, with the devouring flames of my love, to sweeten their pains, to diminish their time of purification, to draw them out of the flames and to transport them within my Heart to heaven.

"This same justice impedes love; and as I myself am love, mercy and justice, this last attribute comes as a deterrent to love on this point--who would believe it!--I am eager and yearning because souls on earth can do what I am not able to do in heaven.

"This is another secret that I disclose today of the thousands of martyrdoms of love that I bear in my Heart of the Savior God. I struggled with divine and human means--how many times, years upon years!--to save souls of fallen priests, unfaithful to the church, renegades, apostates, schismatics etc. etc.: I succeeded in saving them with my very Blood, with tears from my soul, with pleading groans to the Father, with my infinite merits; and they arise from the world contrite and pardoned.

"Then, when they are in purgatory, alas! now nothing is possible for them to do , but WAIT, wait that there are charitable souls that ransom them, lessen their pain and time."

~ Jesus to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, from To My Priests ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Indulgences for Faithful Departed Priests

Tomorrow is First Thursday when a special plenary indulgence may be gained for the Year for Priests. For more information on indulgences, check out the links below. Please consider offering any indulgences you might gain for the benefit of priest souls in Purgatory.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is quoted as saying:

"When I was praying before the Blessed Sacrament on the feast of Corpus Christi, a person enveloped in fire suddenly stood before me. From the pitiable state the soul was in, I knew it was in Purgatory and I wept bitterly. This soul told me that it was that of a Benedictine who had once head my confession and ordered me to go to Holy Communion. As a reward for this, God permitted him to ask me to help him in his sufferings.

"He asked me to apply to him all I should do or suffer for a period of three months. Having obtained my Superior's leave, I did what he asked. He told me that the greatest cause of his sufferings was that in life he had preferred his own interests to those of God, in that he had been too attached to his good reputation. His second defect was lack of charity to his brethren. The third was his all too natural attachment to creatures.

"It would be difficult to describe what I had to endure during those three months. He never left me and seeing him, as it were on fire and in terrible pain, I could do nothing but groan and weep almost incessantly. My superior, being touched with compassion, told me to do hard penances, particularly to take the discipline...After the three months I saw the soul radiant with happiness, joy, and glory. He was about to enjoy eternal happiness, and in thanking me he said he would protect me when with God."

Special Indulgence for the Year for Priests

All Souls Indulgence--Nov. 1st to 8th

Myths about Indulgences

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Jesus Wants Charity for Priests in Purgatory

In His confidences to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida and written in To My Priests, Jesus revealed that it grieves Him when priests forget to remember their departed brother priests. He said:

"I want that in the memento of the departed at Mass, they put their brother priests in the first place, without ever forgetting them. This is my chosen portion and the joy I experience in receiving a priestly soul in heaven equals and even surpasses greatly the love that I professed for them on earth."

"One more martydom of love. I desire that they apply to them in Masses, like the suffrages, my Blood and my merits; I hope that priests, their brothers, sacrifice me on their behalf; and alas! They forget this chosen portion; these souls continue even in purgatory their state of being favored of my Heart and whom I love, not only on earth but still more in purgatory and heaven.

"What my priests do in their charity of JUSTICE with their brothers, drawing them out of purgatory, THEY DO TO ME..."

"...when a soul of a priest comes from purgatory, my Heart beats with more violence; and I receive them and contemplate them with a gaze of indefinable love, and I make heaven tremble with joy."

"Now they will see if my heart of a God-man will eagerly desire to preserve these souls, caring for them,watching for them, hurling myself into the precipice in which many lie, taking them in my arms and saving them.

"But there I find a DIKE that stops Me in my tracks...and this is purgatory. There is no obstacle to my redemptive nor my saving action but to my JUSTICE; and my agonies of waiting begin and of more waiting, the intimate pains of seing those souls suffer that tend toward Me like steel to a magnet, and that remain here, until the militant Church, that is to say, my priests bring them to heaven directly by personal charity or by that of other souls, paying their debts to the offended Divinity."

"All my pains are caused by love and by the little charity of souls. I am charity, I am love and my sorrows consist in the faults against this charity that ought to be burning on earth, and in priestly souls it ought to inflame the Church.

"In my infinite Wisdom I formed my Church: and do they know of what material? From the substance of love, and in all its fibers, and in all its arteries, and in all its dispositions, they will see love and only love. And consequently, I became man, to unite the divine and the human, and to bring to heaven souls WITHOUT DUST.

"Purgatory itself is Love."

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of his Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Helping Priest Souls in Purgatory

"I do not want to exclude priests who have died.

They also need prayers and suffrages

so that they may return to my arms from purgatory to heaven.

Even there, the mission of faithful souls lasts,

to free priests from that place of purification,

to gain for Me the joy of seeing them finally in the bosom of My glory.

This will be an act of charity for them

and a joy they will give Me.

~ Jesus to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, from To My Priests ~

In the time of St. Bernard, a monk at Clairvaux appeared after his death to his brethren in religion to thank them for having delivered him from Purgatory. On being asked what had contributed most to free him from his torments, he led the inquirer to the church, where a priest was saying Mass. "Look," said he, "this is the means by which my deliverance has been effected; this is the power of God's mercy; this is the salutary sacrifice which takes away the sins of the world." Indeed, so great is the efficacy of this sacrifice to obtain relief for the souls in Purgatory that the application of all the good works which have been performed from the beginning of the world would not afford so much assistance to one of these souls as would be imparted by a single Mass.

~ Fr. Michael Muller, CSSR, from The Blessed Eucharist, Our Greatest Treasure ~

Read more about Masses for faithful departed priests here.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

Eucharistic Adoration for Peace on Earth

"The best, the surest and the most effective way

of establishing everlasting PEACE on the face of the earth

is through the great power of

Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament."

~ Pope John Paul II ~

Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Mother of all priests, and our Mother, help us respond generously to the Holy Spirit's request, through the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.