Fr. Augustine Clark: Convert and Catholic 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.

Fr. Robert Barron: God 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.

Fr. Robert Barron: It's a Great Time to Be a Priest

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.

Pope Benedict XVI Asks for Support for Priests and Prayers for His Ministry

"I ask all of you to support your priests in their ministry of leading men and women to God, bearing witness to the truth of the Gospel and its message of hope. In a special way I also ask you to pray for my own ministry of governance in the Church, and for the spiritual fruitfulness of the celebrations at the conclusion of the Year for Priests."

~ Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience 5/26/10 ~

If you haven't made a commitment to pray a monthly Rosary (or more) for the Holy Father, please consider signing up at Rosary for the Bishop. Certainly, you don't need to join a prayer campaign in order to pray for Pope Benedict or any other bishop. However, by making a commitment you are less likely to forget to actually pray the Rosary for them. There is great beauty and power in Catholics throughout the world united in prayerful support of God's priests. Let's show Pope Benedict, our bishops and all our priests how much we love, appreciate and pray for them.

You don't have to worry about forgetting your commitment to pray a Rosary for the Holy Father or another bishop. The Rosary for the Bishop group will be happy to send you an email reminder for each day you promise to pray. They have done all the work in setting up this prayer campaign and making it easy for the rest of us to participate.

I opted not to be reminded by email for the days I commited to pray the Rosary. Nevertheless, I am always reminded and not allowed to forget. I can't say who it is that reminds me, because I don't know, but the reminder comes and, without a doubt, I know that it is what God wants of me. If you haven't made a commitment to Rosary for the Bishop yet--pray about it. God might be asking YOU to say 'yes'.

As you can see from the Rosary for the Bishop badge in the sidebar, so far only 46 people from 40 parishes and 33 dioceses in the whole world have made a commitment to pray at least one Rosary a month for Pope Benedict. Doesn't this sweet, holy shepherd deserve more?

The Holy Father and other bishops are provided with access to the latest data of how many people are praying for them. On the Rosary for the Bishop website you are able to see how many people are praying for any particular bishop. You might be surprised at some of the statistics. Check it out for yourself and see what the Holy Spirit inspires you to do.

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. William Casey: The Mass is Calvary Made Present Again

"When you're offering the Mass, you have to realize that you are reliving the Passion of Christ. It is Calvary made present again. It's the greatest act of worship the world has ever known or ever will know..."

~ Fr. William Casey ~

Fr. Casey never fails to tell it like it is, speaking clearly and directly. In the following video he discusses the awesome reality of the Mass, reverent participation in the Holy Sacrifice, and devout, reverent reception of Holy Communion. God bless Fr. Casey! Please take the time to listen to what he has to say.

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. Joseph, Patron of the Church: His Special Relationship to the Priesthood

Saint Joseph, God has appointed you patron of the Catholic Church because you were the head of the Holy Family, the starting-point of the Church. You were the father, protector, guide and support of the Holy Family. For that reason you belong in a particular way to the Church, which was the purpose of the Holy Family's existence.

I believe that the Church is the family of God on earth. Its government is represented in priestly authority which consists above all in its power over the true Body of Christ, really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, thus continuing Christ's life in the Church. From this power, too, comes authority over the Mystical Body of Christ, the members of the Church -- the power to teach and govern souls, to reconcile them with God, to bless them, and to pray for them.

You have a special relationship to the priesthood because you possessed a wonderful power over our Savior Himself. Your life and office were of a priestly function and are especially connected with the Blessed Sacrament. To some extent you were the means of bringing the Redeemer to us -- as it is the priest's function to bring Him to us in the Mass -- for you reared Jesus, supported, nourished, protected and sheltered Him. You were prefigured by the patriarch Joseph, who kept supplies of wheat for his people. But how much greater than he were you! Joseph of old gave the Egyptians mere bread for their bodies. You nourished, and with the most tender care, preserved for the Church Him who is the Bread of Heaven and who gives eternal life in Holy Communion.

God has appointed you patron of the Church because the glorious title of patriarch also falls by special right to you. The patriarchs were the heads of families of the Chosen People, and theirs was the honor to prepare for the Savior's incarnation. You belonged to this line of patriarchs, for you were one of the last descendants of the family of David and one of the nearest forebears of Christ according to the flesh. As husband of Mary, the Mother of God, and as the foster-father of the Savior, you were directly connected with Christ. Your vocation was especially concerned with the Person of Jesus; your entire activity centered about Him. You are, therefore, the closing of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, which took its rise with the Holy Family of Nazareth. Because the New Testament surpasses the Old in every respect, you are the patriarch of patriarchs, the most venerable, exalted, and amiable of all the patriarchs.

Through Mary, the Church received Christ, and therefore the Church is indebted to her. But the Church owes her debt of gratitude and veneration to you also, for you were the chosen one who enabled Christ to enter into the world according to the laws of order and fitness. It was by you that the patriarchs and the prophets and the faithful reaped the fruit of God's promise. Alone among them all, you saw with your own eyes and possessed the Redeemer promised to the rest of men.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the Patron of the Church. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to live always as a worthy member of this Church, so that through it I may save my soul. Bless the priests, the religious, and the laity of the Catholic Church, that they may ever grow in God's love and faithfulness in His service. Protect the Church from the evils of our day and from the persecution of her enemies. Through your powerful intercession may the church successfully accomplish its mission in this world -- the glory of God and the salvation of souls!

~ Day 5 of a beautiful Novena to St. Joseph: from EWTN ~

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. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi: Special Mission

( Video posted for 5/22/09)

God revealed to her that the Church had need, of reform. All were called to contribute their share. She, furthermore, had a special mission: to remind religious and the higher dignitaries of the Church of the urgency of their task. The saint trembled at this revelation, because it contrasted so enormously with her humility; she would have preferred death a thousand times. Fearing that she was deceived, she spoke of the matter to her superiors and asked counsel of several religious known for their prudence and holiness of life, such as Father Angelus, the Dominican, and Father Fabbrini, the Jesuit (V, 9 /I, 153/). All encouraged her to follow God's commands without hesitation, since these commands were clear, decisive, and repeated; therefore, it was absolutely necessary that she obey. And for this reason «in her abstraction of mind, she wrote some letters, in favor of such a renewal, to the Supreme Pontiff and to other prelates and servants of God» (V, 1 /I, 145/). (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.

Pope Benedict XVI: Church Needs Penance, Purification, Forgiveness and Justice

"...attacks against the Pope and the Church do not only come from outside;
rather, the sufferings of the Church come from inside the Church,

from the sin that exists in the Church.

This was always common knowledge,

but today we see it in a truly terrifying form:

the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from external enemies,

but is born of sin within the Church.

Thus the Church has a profound need to relearn penance,

to accept purification,

to learn forgiveness but also the need for justice.

Forgiveness does not replace justice.

~ Pope Benedict XVI ~

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.

Consecration of the World and Priests to the Holy Spirit

"The world is foundering because it rejects the Holy Spirit, and all the evils which afflict it have therein their origin. The remedy is found in Him. He is the Consoler, the author of all grace, the bond of union between the Father and the Son and the supreme conciliator since He is charity, uncreated and eternal Love.

"May the whole world have recourse to this Holy Spirit since the day of His reign has arrived. This last stage of the world belongs very specially to Him that He be honored and exalted.

"May the Church preach Him, may souls love Him, may the whole world be consecrated to Him, and peace will come along with a moral and spiritual reaction, greater than the evil by which the world is tormented.

"May all at once this Holy Spirit begin to be called on with prayers, penances and tears, with the ardent desire of His coming. He will come, I will send Him again clearly manifest in His effects, which will astonish the world and impel the Church to holiness" (Diary, Sept. 27, 1918).

"Ask for this renewal, this new Pentecost, for My Church has need of priests sanctified by the Holy Spirit. The world is foundering in the abyss since it lacks priests who will help it from falling in; priests who bear the light to shine on the paths of good; pure priests to pull out of the mud so many hearts; priests afire who will fill the entire universe with divine love.

"Ask, supplicate heaven, that all may be restored in Me by the Holy Spirit" (Diary, Nov. 1, 1927).

"I want to return to the world in My priests. I want to renew the world of souls by making Myself seen in My priests. I want to give a might impulse to My Church infusing in her, as it were, a new Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, in My priests" (Diary, Jan. 5, 1928).

"To obtain what I ask, every priest must make a consecration to the Holy Spirit, asking Him, through Mary's intercession, to come to them as it were in a new Pentecost, to purify them, to fill them with love, possess them, unify them, sanctify them and transform them into Me" (Diary, Jan. 25, 1928).

~ Jesus to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (Conchita) ~

from Conchita, A Mother's Spiritual Diary

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.

Mary, Mother of the Church

"Mary was chosen among all women that in Her virginal womb the Incarnation of the Divine Word be brought about and from that very moment She, wholly pure, the Virgin Mother, She who consented to it with love in most total submission to My Father's will, has never ceased offering Me to Him. The victim came from heaven to save the world, but She sacrificed Her maternal heart to the divine will of the Beloved Father.

"She reared Me to be a Victim, attaining the supreme oblation of Her soul when She delivered Me up to be crucified. One sole sacrifice was there, that which I offered on the Cross and which took place in Her heart. She continued this sacrifice by Her martyrdom of solitude, offering up Her sufferings to the eternal Father in union with me.

"When I left the world, when I parted from My Disciples, I left them Mary, to represent Me by Her virtues, in Her maternal tenderness, in Her Heart; perfectly faithful to Mine. I left Her to be a necessary factor for the foundation of My Church, as well as sustenance for My Apostles and My first disciples.

"The nascent Church relied on Mary, who sustained Her by Her sufferings and Her virtues, Her prayers and Her love.

"That is why, when I sent the Holy Spirit to My Apostles, I did not take Mary away, although She was even now full of grace and filled with the Holy Spirit. This was in order that the Church see in Her, her Queen, that priests judge Her indispensable, and that neither they nor the faithful suffer from the absence of their Mother's love and sacrifice" (Diary, April 6, 1928).

~ Jesus to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (Conchita) ~

from Conchita, A Mother's Spiritual Diary

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. Cristobal Magallanes and Companions: 20th Century Martyrs of Mexico

St. Cristobal Magallanes:
Arrested on May 21, 1927, while en route to celebrate Mass at a farm, he gave away his few remaining possessions to his executioners, gave them absolution, and without a trial, he was martyred with Saint Agustín Caloca in Colotlán, Jalisco. His last words to his executioners were "I die innocent, and ask God that my blood may serve to unite my Mexican brethren."

~ Information from 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.

Fr. Samuel Medley: I AM Celibate

"Some have chosen continence for the sake of Kingdom of Heaven"

(Matthew 19:12)

"Today, it is clear that the vocation to celibacy is misunderstood, maligned, and even hated in a world that mistakenly proclaims that sexual gratification is the only path to fulfillment and happiness. The media in particular has a tendency to portray celibacy as second rate, inept, and insufficient for living a satisfying and full life."

"Therefore, what is needed are witnesses who are not ashamed, afraid, apologetic about being celibate – men and women who do not feel the slightest bit sorry for themselves, or doubtful of the charism of offering their manhood and masculinity, or womanhood and femininity directly to Jesus Christ in virginal love. There must come forward witnesses who shine the full light of joy of belonging totally to Jesus. It is now necessary for celibates to reveal the theology of the body of Pope John Paul the Great alive in their own bodies, who can say proudly, loudly and clearly, “I AM Celibate.”

"We must understand first that our bodies are hard-wired for this kind of celibate gift of self. This is called the “spousal meaning of the body,” which Pope John Paul defines as, “the power to express love: precisely that love in which the human person becomes a gift and – through this gift – fulfills the very meaning of his being and existence” (TOB 15:1), yet there is another meaning of the body. Our bodies were created to be offered totally to Jesus Christ – and only for him. This is what the Holy Father calls the “virginal meaning of the body” (TOB 67:4).

"Married people can live the virginal meaning of the body when they realize that their bodies are gifted totally to Jesus through the mediation of their spouse here on earth. A married woman gifts her womanhood, femininity, fertility totally to Jesus through her husband, and she is able to love her husband only through Jesus, that is, by the power of his love. An unmarried woman, who makes herself “a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12), and thus gifts her womanhood, femininity, fertility totally and directly to Jesus with no mediation – she has become a real and true spouse of Christ.

"With no mediation, the point of contact with God that takes place in our bodies is quite potent and powerful, and so is the joy and the freedom experienced in men and women who give their whole beings over to divine love. Since we are hard-wired for this spousal and virginal meaning of our bodies in our very beings, the effect is that there is a real and palpable freedom, emotional maturity, fulfillment, peace, deep satisfaction, and an authentic happiness that is undeniable. Such is the experience by a majority of virgins and celibates."

~ Fr. Samuel Medley: excerpts from I AM Celibate ~

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.

Bishop Robert Morlino: Appeal for Loving Support and Prayer for Priests

"Despite the continued focus on the horrendous crimes of a relatively few priests within the Church, we move forward, a people of faith, cognizant of the fact that our Church is made up of sinners — our priests and bishops included — but that each of us has faith that it is Jesus Christ Himself who founded this Church, for our Salvation, and that He has sent the Holy Spirit to protect His Church from “the gates of hell.”

"No matter the sins of Her members, even the terrible sins of a few of Her ministers, the Holy Spirit remains with the Bride of Christ, to care for Her, to reconcile all Her members to Christ, and to grant us everlasting life.

"As one Body, each member of the Church is affected when another causes injury. We all feel profoundly the wounds inflicted by a few, and we must do all that we can to bring healing to those wounded. I don’t know that I’ve experienced that empathetic pain in anyone more than in our good priests and bishops. And that brings me to the point of this column. "

"Dear sisters and brothers, we cannot lay upon priests the expectation that they not be weak — Jesus Christ was weak in His human nature, but He was God and He never sinned. But we should always pray for our priests, that the Lord will use their weakness, when it appears, to show forth His strength. When we are the most weak, as St. Paul says, then we are strong.

"I encourage all of the faithful to walk in loving support with our priests, every minute of every day. In many ways, our priesthood relies on the loving support and prayers of the faithful. The priests know that, and the people should know it too.

"Let us let the Year for Priests not pass as just “some other observance.” Even the great feasts in the Church can pass so quickly — on Christmas Day all you can hear are Christmas carols throughout the world, but the next day the stores are preparing for Valentine’s Day. The Year for Priests cannot be that way. Let us remember always that our priests are indispensable and that the strength of Christ shows through in their weakness — thanks to the prayers and support of the people."

~ Bishop Robert Morlino, from Priests: Chosen by Holy Spirit, working with Christ

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 St. John I and Pope Blessed John XXIII: Leaders in Truth

"All the evils which poison men and nations and trouble so many hearts have a single cause and a single source: ignorance of the truth--and at times even more than ignorance, a contempt for truth and a reckless rejection of it. Thus arise all manner of errors, which enter the recesses of men's hearts and the bloodstream of human society as would a plague. These errors turn everything upside down: they menace individuals and society itself."

~ Pope John XXIII, from Ad Petri Cathedram ~

More information on Pope St. John I here.

More information on Pope Blessed John XXIII 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.

St. Paschal Baylon: Focused on God

"Meditate well on this: Seek God above all things. It is right for you to seek God before and above everything else, because the majesty of God wishes you to receive what you ask for. This will also make you more ready to serve God and will enable you to love him more perfectly"

~ St. Paschal Baylon ~

Excellent homily from franciscanfriars:
Today is the Memorial of St. Paschal Baylon who was a humble friar who had an extraordinary focus on God as being the greatest treasure, above and before all else. He especially was known for adoring God in the Eucharist. Fr. Anglelo compares this to the useless and even harmful distractions that our high-tech, sensual world submerges us in. Ave Maria!

~ For more information read: St. Paschal Baylon: Saint of the Blessed Sacrament ~

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: "Redouble Your Fervour"

"What happiness do we not feel in the Presence of God,

when we are alone at His feet before the Sacred Tabernacle!...

Redouble your fervour;

you are alone to adore your God;

His eyes rest upon you alone."

~ St. Jean Vianney, from Catechism on the Real Presence ~

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.

Pray With Me: Litany for Priests

Jesus, meek & humble of heart,
give all your priests Thy spirit of humility;
Jesus, poor and worn out for souls,
give all Thy priests Thy spirit of zeal;
Jesus, full of patience and mercy for sinners,
give all priests Thy spirit of compassion;
Jesus, victim for sins of the world;
give all priests Thy spirit of sacrifice;
Jesus, lover of the little and the poor,
give all priests Thy spirit of charity.
Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us;
and obtain for us numerous and holy priests and religious.
Amen.

St. Nicholas Owen: Martyr for Priests

Trailers for upcoming film on Saint Nicholas Owen: Maker of Priest Holes. Saint Nicholas Owen is one of the forty martyrs of England and Wales who died under torture after giving himself up to save Jesuit priests. St. Nicholas Owen built many incredible priest holes and is responsible for saving the lives of many priests during the persecution of the Catholic Church in Elizabethan England.

He became a carpenter presumably by trade, and for about twenty years, built hiding-places for priests in the homes of Catholic families. He frequently travelled from one house to another, under the name of "Little John", accepting only the necessities of life as payment before starting off for a new project.[2]

Owen was only slightly taller than a dwarf...his work often involved breaking through thick stonework; and to minimize the likelihood of betrayal he often worked at night, and always alone. The number of hiding-places he constructed will likely never be known. Due to the ingenuity of his craftsmanship, some may still be undiscovered.[3]

For many years, Owen worked in the service of the Jesuit priest Henry Garnet, and was admitted into the Society of Jesus as a lay brother. He was first arrested in 1582 or 1583, after the execution of Edmund Campion, for publicly proclaiming that martyr's innocence, but was later released. He was arrested again in 1594, and was tortured, but revealed nothing. He was released after a wealthy Catholic family paid a fine on his behalf, the jailers believing that he was merely the insignificant friend of some priests. He resumed his work, and is believed to have masterminded the escape of Jesuit Father John Gerard from the Tower of London in 1597.

Early in 1606, Owen was arrested a final time at Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire,[4] giving himself up voluntarily in hope of distracting attention from some priests who were hiding nearby.

~ Excerpts from 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.

Faith and Prayer: More Powerful Than Bullets and Armies

"Faith and prayer are forces which can influence history,

and in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets,

and faith more powerful than armies."

~ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, before he was Pope Benedict XVI ~

~ Pope Benedict XVI: Consecration of Priests to the Immaculate Heart of Mary ~

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. John Chrysostom: Passing Judgment on Priests

"I know my own soul, how feeble and puny it is: I know the magnitude of this ministry, and the great difficulty of the work; for more stormy billows vex the soul of the priest than the gales which disturb the sea."

"For as long as the life of the priest is well regulated in every direction, it is invulnerable to plots; but if he happens to overlook some trifle, as is natural in a human being, traversing the treacherous ocean of this life, none of his other good deeds are of any avail in enabling him to escape the mouths of his accusers; but that little blunder overshadows all the rest. And all men are ready to pass judgment on the priest as if he was not a being clothed with flesh, or one who inherited a human nature, but like an angel, and emancipated from every species of infirmity.

And just as all men fear and flatter a tyrant as long as he is strong, because they cannot put him down, but when they see his affairs going adversely, those who were his friends a short time before abandon their hypocritical respect, and suddenly become his enemies and antagonists, and having discovered all his weak points, make an attack upon him, and depose him from the government; so is it also in the case of priests. Those who honored him and paid court to him a short time before, while he was strong, as soon as they have found some little handle eagerly prepare to depose him, not as a tyrant only, but something far more dreadful than that. And as the tyrant fears his body guards, so also does the priest dread most of all his neighbours and fellow-ministers. For no others covet his dignity so much, or know his affairs so well as these; and if anything occurs, being near at hand, they perceive it before others, and even if they slander him, can easily command belief, and, by magnifying trifles, take their victim captive. For the apostolic saying is reversed, “whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it;” (1 Cor. xii. 26.) unless indeed a man should be able by his great discretion to stand his ground against everything."

~ St. John Chrysostom, from Treatise on the Priesthood ~

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.

Bishop Victor Galeone: His Parents Rejected Abortion

When Bishop Victor Galeone's mother was pressured by a social worker to abort her fourth child (him), she responded:

“I told her that I could never do that…that I would rather die first."

His father's response to the threat to take away benefit cards if an abortion was not performed was equally heroic:

"Very well, let them! Let them have their cards back! The Lord will provide. ”

Bishop Galeone tells of his mother's emotional revelation:

"On two occasions of my life, I stayed awake all night long. One was a case of food poisoning in Peru. The other was Mother’s Day 1970. I tried to fall asleep, but to no avail. For the first time in my life – on learning how close I had come to not seeing the light of day – I fully realized what a precious gift life is.

"Throughout the night, scenes from my boyhood intermingled with images of the heroine I had for a mother: “Hey, Victor, your Mom sure talks funny. I could hardly understand her.” Gee, I wonder why my Mom can’t talk nice English like all the other mothers can. “No, I could never do that! I would rather die first!” And she only went as far as the third grade in a backward school in Southern Italy. “Is that your grandmother?” No, that’s my Mom. Her hair turned snow white when she was 30. She had me when she was 35. “At two months, all the major organs are formed and functioning. All that is required for birth is time and nourishment.” – “No, I could never do that! I would rather die first.”

"I would like to close with the inspiring words that Cardinal József Mindzenty penned many years ago about motherhood:

“A Christian mother cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral – a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. The angels have not been blessed with such a grace…God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation. What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this – to be a mother?”

~ Bishop Victor Galeone: excerpts from The Gift of Mothers ~

~ A previous post about abortion: The Cry of Unborn Future 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.

An Appeal for Thousands of Rosaries Throughout the World for All Priests

"We already know that we are not alone;

now, they need to know that they are not alone."

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.

On This Day, O Beautiful Mother

Refrain:
On this day, O Beautiful Mother!
On this day we give thee our love;
Near thee, Madonna, fondly we hover,
trusting thy gentle care to prove.

On this day we ask to share,
dearest Mother, thy sweet care;
Aid us e'er, our feet astray,
wandering from thy guiding way.

Queen of Angels, deign to hear,
thy dear children's humble pray'r;
Young hearts gain, O Virgin pure,
sweetly to thyself allure.

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. Samuel Medley: Offering my Priesthood to Our Lady

From Fr. Samuel Medley, SOLT — October 23, 2008 — Hail, full of Grace!

Hail Immaculate Virgin Mary, Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Holy Spirit! Just as the Most Holy Trinity came to you and chose to live in you to begin the Redemption of all mankind, so too, I come to you and chose to live in you to begin a life a priestly ministry. Together with, and in imitation of Jesus, the Incarnate Wisdom, I offer, consecrate, and entrust my whole being to you.

I offer to you my participation in the priestly ministry of Jesus. As you stood by Jesus as he offered himself as our paschal Sacrifice, please stand by me every time I offer that same unbloody Sacrifice on the altar. I offer to you, Mother of the one high Priest, my participation in the Victimhood of Jesus for the sanctification of the entire world, but especially for the people of Russia, and also for my own sanctification.

I consecrate to you O Mary all my thoughts, actions, and words as I participate in the prophetic life of Jesus; every homily, counsel, spiritual direction, teaching, retreat, but most of all every celebration of the Sacrament of Peace and Reconciliation. Help me to become like you: a refuge of sinners, a consolation of the afflicted, a sign of hope and confidence in the Fathers infinite Mercy.

I entrust to you, Sacred Virgin Mother of the People of God and my Mother, my participation in the kingship of Jesus, the King of Kings. I entrust to you every person who is committed to my care, that they may come fully to the covenant of communion of the Most Holy Trinity all young and old people, consecrated men and women, my brother priests with whom I will journey, but most especially all married couples and families for whom I have already offered to you my life many times.

In a special way, I thank you for having called me to be a part of your family, the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. I ask you to obtain for me the gift to always faithfully and obediently serve your family. Help me to be a good friend, brother, and father in this family.

I ask you together with the Holy Apostles, to obtain the precious Gift of the Holy Spirit that I may be fired with apostolic zeal, to defend the Church, to promote a culture of life, and that I may live with great joy the inestimable gift of celibacy, remaining free to serve all.

And with Jesus, I entrust to you my last hour and breath. As you held Jesus in your arms, hold me and present me to the throne of God, that like you, I may enjoy his eternal friendship and continue to serve him forever. I offer, consecrate, and entrust myself, now and forever to your Immaculate Heart. Glory be...

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: "Pray for Priests and their Ministry of Sanctification..."

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

During my recent visit to Turin, I prayed before the sacred Shroud, which invites us to contemplate the face of Christ and to ponder the mystery of his death and resurrection. As members of Christ’s Body, the Church, all the baptized are called to share in his saving work. In these final days of the Year for Priests, however, I would like to return to the specific ministry of the priest and, today, to his ministry of sanctification. Holiness, as we know, is proper to God, who is himself absolute truth, goodness, love and beauty. As ministers of Christ, priests bring us into life-giving contact with the mystery of God’s holiness. Thanks to the priest’s preaching of the Gospel and his celebration of the sacraments, we are enabled to approach God and to be transformed gradually into the divine image. In the celebration of the sacraments, and in particular the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Christ’s sanctifying work is constantly made present and effective. In their devout celebration of the sacraments, priests sanctify the faithful and are themselves sanctified and configured ever more closely to Christ. I ask all of you to pray for priests and their ministry of sanctification, that they may be true shepherds according to God’s heart.

~ Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, May 5, 2010, St. Peter's Square ~

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.

Sacred Heart of Jesus: Without Mary...

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.

Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan: Empowered by the Eucharist

"Many friends have asked me,

'What is your secret strength that enabled you to survive prison?'

The strength that empowered me was the Eucharist."

~ Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan ~

From JP2FilmFestival — August 20, 2009 — Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was a political prisoner of the Communist regime in Vietnam for thirteen years, nine of which he spent in solitary confinement. His remarkable faith sustained him during those long years when he would celebrate Mass in secret with three drops of wine in the palm of his hand and the host smuggled inside a flashlight by his faithful. His spiritual writings, penned on the back of old calendars, have spread throughout the world inspiring millions.
 

"I will never be able to express my immense joy: Every day with three drops of wine and one drop of water in the palm of my hand, I celebrated my Mass.

"...We made little containers from the paper of cigarette boxes to reserve the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus in the Eucharist was always with me in my shirt pocket. .... They (Catholics in the camp) all knew that Jesus was among them, that He is the one who cures all their physical and mental suffering. At night, the prisoners would take turns keeping adoration; Jesus helped in a tremendous way with His silent presence. Many Christians regained the fervor of their faith during these days, and Buddhists and other non-Christians converted.

"The strength of the love of Jesus is irresistible. The darkness of prison became light, the seed germinated underground during the storm."

~ Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan ~

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. Mark Kirby: Entrust Priests to St. Joseph

"And we recommend priests to Saint Joseph. The Church, in her wisdom, proposes to her priests two prayers in honour of Saint Joseph each day: one before Holy Mass, and one after. Every priest can find in Saint Joseph a friend, a model, a protector. Saint Joseph stands ready a every moment to introduce priests to a deeper intimacy with his Spouse, the Virgin Mary.

"If you want to help priests, entrust them to Saint Joseph. All priests, especially parish priests, are exposed to being criticized and judged. It is a particular form of suffering that accompanies every priest from the day of his first Mass until the day of his last. I believe it was Archbishop Fulton Sheen who said that all priests are lacerated by the tongues of the pious! He knew of what he spoke; his own biography was entitled The Passion of Fulton Sheen. An effective way of countering the sins against charity that wound and discourage all priests is to entrust them to Saint Joseph."

~ Fr. Mark Kirby: excerpts from Go To Joseph ~

~ Fr. Kirby's beautiful prayers to St. Joseph 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.

Father James Farfaglia: Eucharistic Graces To Love Like Jesus Loves

"Anyone who wants to live true Christianity is called to live selflessly. Does a true mother complain when she must waken in the middle of the night to care for her sick child? What father who really loves his family will complain about the daily sacrifices that he must make to support his family? Will a Catholic priest, enamored of his priestly calling, not be filled with a profound joy as he gives himself untiringly to his parish family?"

"Daily, total giving of the self is not an easy enterprise. The tendencies of fallen human nature pull us into ourselves. This is why we need a daily encounter with the God of unconditional love hidden in the tabernacle of every Catholic Church.

"Whether through daily Mass or a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament, it is Jesus who will give us all of the graces that we need to love just like he loves you and me. But, in order to truly love we must first die to ourselves. Total and complete detachment from our selves is essential."

~ Fr. James Farfaglia: excerpts from his homily, Living Easter Every Day ~

St. Mary Major Basilica: First Thursday Prayer Vigils 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.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Servant of All

As Father Andrew Apostoli has said, "Our Church needs a hero of the faith like Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and maybe now more than ever. We can't let his voice go silent; there's too much at stake."

The film "Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Servant of All" was developed by The Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation to ensure this hero lives on to inspire new generations. The Foundation's mission is to make known the life, works and thoughts of Archbishop Sheen — and this film is perhaps its most important effort in leading others to a deeper relationship with God and His Church using Sheen's example. The goal of the film is to fill viewers with the same zeal for the Church that Archbishop Sheen himself experienced.

Information from the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation found here.

St. Joseph the Worker: Model Participant in Christ's Saving Mission

"The importance of work in human life demands that its meaning be known and assimilated in order to "help all people to come closer to God, the Creator and Redeemer, to participate in his salvific plan for man and the world, and to deepen...friendship with Christ in their lives, by accepting, through faith, a living participation in his threefold mission as Priest, Prophet and King."

"What is crucially important here is the sanctification of daily life, a sanctification which each person must acquire according to his or her own state, and one which can be promoted according to a model accessible to all people: "St. Joseph is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises up to great destinies;...he is the proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need of great things-it is enough to have the common, simple and human virtues, but they need to be true and authentic."

"May St. Joseph become for all of us an exceptional teacher in the service of Christ's saving mission, a mission which is the responsibility of each and every member of the Church: husbands and wives, parents, those who live by the work of their hands or by any other kind of work, those called to the contemplative life and those called to the apostolate."

~ Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos,

On the Person and Mission of Saint Joseph in the Life of Christ and of the Church, 1989 ~

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.

Rosary for the Bishop: Testimonials and Blog

"We bishops rely each and every blessed day on the prayers of the good and holy people of our diocese and of all those who have gone before us. We have no better intercessor than our Blessed Mother, the Mother of all the Apostles, the Mother of the Church. It gives me great serenity to know that so many women and men are turning to Mary, asking her special care and intercession for the bishops. As the Lord blesses the bishops through the intercession of Mary, may every person who takes part in the Rosary for the Bishop project also be blessed."

~ Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Diocese of Madison ~

"As a Bishop, I am humbled and privileged to be prayed for by name each time Mass is celebrated in my Diocese. Knowing that many others are also praying for me every day by participating in the program Rosary for the Bishop, is a special blessing and source of encouragement for me. The intercession of our Blessed Mother through the praying of the rosary is a powerful tool to help me in my mission as a Shepherd of the Church. Thank you to all who participate in the program and for all who make it possible. It means more to me than you will ever know and I do indeed feel the grace of your prayers for me."

~ Bishop R. Walker Nickless, Diocese of Sioux City ~

~ From Rosary for the Bishop Blog ~

Have you signed up to pray for your bishop, the Holy Father--or perhaps also another favorite bishop somewhere in your nation or the world? If you want to make the Blessed Mother happy and spiritually uplift the bishops of the world, sign up for Rosary for the Bishop.

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.