Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: "Pray Much for Priests"

"Pray much for priests because we need holy priests.

The holier priests are the more holy we religious will be.

Then too, the more holy will be the families who are longing for God.

If we have more holy families we will have many holy vocations."

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta ~

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 Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

St. Anne Line: Executed by Hanging for Sheltering Catholic Priests

"I am sentenced to die for harbouring a Catholic priest.
But so far I am from repenting for having done so that I wish with all my soul...
that where I have entertained one...I could have entertained a thousand."

~ Saint Anne Line ~

The powerful and emotional story of Saint Anne Line, English Catholic Martyr who was executed by hanging for sheltering Catholic priests. These visuals are taken from the New Film 'Saint Anne Line' from Mary's Dowry Productions which brings to life the story of Saint Anne Line as well as the many other characters surrounding her journey. Arrested on Candlemas during a secret Mass, Anne Line was sentenced to die by hanging. For more information and to purchase other original Catholic DVDs worldwide visit http://www.marysdowryproductions.org/

~ Related post: St. Nicholas Owen, Martyr 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.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer: God's Call to 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.

Sermon by St. Augustine: "Suffer for My Sheep"

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. Monica: The Power of Perseverance in Prayer

~ Related post: The Power of Prayer--Remember St. Augustine? ~

~ The Marian Mantle Group website ~

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.

How Mother Teresa Saved Cardinal Comastri's Priesthood

...Cardinal Comastri remembered a personal encounter he had with the Missionaries of Charity's founder when he was just a young priest.

His first contact with Mother Teresa came when he mailed her a letter just after he was ordained a priest. Her "unexpected" response was especially striking, he recalled, because it was written on "very poor paper, in a very poor envelope."

At a later date, Cardinal Comastri sought her out when she was visiting Rome to thank her for the answer. When he found her, she asked him a question that left him "a little embarrassed."

"How many hours do you pray a day?" she asked.

Then, in 1969-70, he recalled, the Church was in a time of "dispute," so thinking that it was "near heroism, then-Father Comastri explained to her that he said daily Mass in addition to praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary.”

To this, she responded flatly, "That's not enough.”

"Love cannot be lived minimally," she said, and then asked him to promise to do half an hour of adoration every day.

"I promised," said Cardinal Comastri, "and today I can say that this saved my priesthood."

~ Cardinal Comastri, excerpt from CNA ~

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 John Paul II on His Vocation

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. Frank Pavone: Drawn by the Eucharist

A Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament
for the Increase of Priestly and Religious Vocations

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal Father, Son of the Virgin Mary,
we thank you for offering your life in sacrifice on the Cross,
and for renewing this sacrifice in every Mass celebrated throughout the world.

In the Power of the Holy Spirit
we adore you and proclaim your living presence in the Eucharist.
We desire to imitate the love you show us in your death and resurrection,
by loving and serving one another.

We ask you to call many young people to religious life,
and to provide the holy and generous priests
that are so needed in your Church today.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Amen.

~ Archbishop Justin Rigali - St. Louis ~

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 Vocations to 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.

Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth

~ Related post: The Queenship 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.

Our Lady of Knock

~ Related post: Our Lady of Knock and Her Priest Sons ~

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. Anthony Brankin: "The Sacrifice of Christ is Made Present and Real at Mass"

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 Eudes: Formation of Diocesan Clergy

"...I want to dwell on the apostolic zeal of St John Eudes, which he focused in particular on the formation of the diocesan clergy...Prompted by a lucid awareness of the grave need for spiritual assistance in which souls lay because of the inadequacy of the majority of the clergy, the Saint, who was a parish priest, founded a congregation specifically dedicated to the formation of priests...He wanted to recall people, men and women and especially future priests, to the heart by showing them the priestly Heart of Christ and the motherly Heart of Mary. Every priest must be a witness and an apostle of this love for Christ's Heart and Mary's Heart. And here we come to our own time.

"Today too people feel in need of priests who witness to God's infinite mercy with a life totally "conquered" by Christ and who learn to do this in the years of their seminary training...The foundations laid in seminary formation constitute that indispensable "humus spirituale" in which "to learn Christ", letting oneself be gradually configured to him, the one and only High Priest and Good Shepherd.

"... I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to pray for priests and for all those who are preparing to receive the extraordinary gift of the ministerial priesthood. I address to you all and thus I conclude the exhortation of St John Eudes who said to priests: 'Give yourselves to Jesus in order to enter the immensity of his great Heart which contains the Heart of his Holy Mother and the hearts of all the Saints and lose yourselves in this abyss of love, charity, mercy, humility, purity, patience, submission and holiness' (Coeur admirable, III, 2). "

~ Pope Benedict XVI: Excerpts from General Audience 8/19/09 ~

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 adorationfor priests. Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI Wanted to Be a Librarian

"Dear Brothers and Sisters. After the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.

"The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

"Let us move forward in the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help. The Lord will help us and Mary, his Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you."

~ Pope Benedict XVI's greeting to the people after his election as Pope ~

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. Tarcisius: Martyr of the Eucharist

"While Tarcisius was dying a Pretoria guard called Quadratus, who had also, secretly, become a Christian, carried him to the priest. Tarcisius was already dead when they arrived but was still clutching to his breast a small linen bag containing the Eucharist. He was buried straight away in the Catacombs of St Calixtus. Pope Damasus had an inscription carved on St Tarcisius' grave; it says that the boy died in 257. The Roman Martyrology fixed the date as 15 August and in the same Martyrology a beautiful oral tradition is also recorded. It claims that the Most Blessed Sacrament was not found on St Tarcisius' body, either in his hands or his clothing. It explains that the consecrated Host which the little Martyr had defended with his life, had become flesh of his flesh thereby forming, together with his body, a single immaculate Host offered to God.

"...St Tarcisius' testimony and this beautiful tradition teach us the deep love and great veneration that we must have for the Eucharist: it is a precious good, a treasure of incomparable value; it is the Bread of life, it is Jesus himself who becomes our nourishment, support and strength on our daily journey and on the open road that leads to eternal life; the Eucharist is the greatest gift that Jesus bequeathed to us."

~ Pope Benedict XVI, excerpts from General Audience 8/4/10 ~

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 adorationfor priests. Amen.

Fr. William Doyle: Prayer for Priests

PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

by Fr William Doyle

O my God, pour out in abundance Thy spirit of sacrifice upon Thy priests.

It is both their glory and their duty to become victims,

to be burnt up for souls,

to live without ordinary joys,

to be often the objects of distrust, injustice, and persecution.
The words they say every day at the altar,

"This is my Body, this is my Blood,"

grant them to apply to themselves:

"I am no longer myself,

I am Jesus, Jesus crucified.

I am, like the bread and wine,

a substance no longer itself,

but by consecration another."

O my God, I burn with desire for the sanctification of Thy priests.

I wish all the priestly hands which touch Thee

were hands whose touch is gentle and pleasing to Thee,

that all the mouths uttering such sublime words at the altar

should never descend to speaking trivialities.

Let priests in all their person stay at the level of their lofty functions,

let every man find them simple and great,

like the Holy Eucharist,

accessible to all yet above the rest of men.

O my God, grant them to carry with them from the Mass of today,
a thirst for the Mass of tomorrow,

and grant them, ladened themselves with gifts,

to share these abundantly with their fellow men.

Amen.

The above prayer and much more about Fr. Doyle found here.

Related posts-- Fr. William Doyle:Victim of Reparation for Sins of Priests

Fr. William Doyle: Eucharistic Quotes

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.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin 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.

Legend of the Thorn Bird and the Seven Last Words of Christ

Moving video drama meditating on the crucifixion of Christ with an interesting parallel to the Thorn Bird Legend:

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. Jane Frances de Chantal: The Martyrdom of Love

"The principal foundation of the spiritual life is love

and its most important fruit is union with God and neighbor.

Hearts in conflict are closed to heavenly graces,

but hearts united in love are open to receive all of God's gifts."

~ St. Jane Frances de Chantal ~

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.

Sayings of St. Jean Vianney

"How pleasing to Him

is the short quarter of an hour that we steal from our occupations,

from something of no use,

to come and pray to Him,

to visit Him,

to console Him for all the outrages He receives!"

~ St. Jean Vianney ~

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. Clare of Assisi: Protected by Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

Available from Ignatius Press. Call 1-800-651-1531 or go to www.ignatius.com to order.

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. Maximilian Kolbe: God Remains With Us in the Blessed Sacrament

"God dwells in our midst, in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."

"He remains among us until the end of the world.

He dwells on so many altars, though so often offended and profaned."

"If angels could be jealous of men,

they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

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. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

According to lore, among the treasure of the Roman church entrusted to Lawrence for safe-keeping was the Holy Chalice, the cup from which Jesus and the Apostles drank at the Last Supper. Lawrence was able to spirit this away to Huesca, in present day Aragon, with a letter and a supposed inventory, where it lay hidden and unregarded for centuries. When Augustine connects Lawrence with a chalice, it is the chalice of the Mass:

"For in that Church, you see, as you have regularly been told, he performed the office of deacon; it was there that he administered the sacred chalice of Christ’s blood"."

According to Christian history the Holy Grail is a relic that was sent by St. Lawrence to his parents in northern Aragon. He entrusted this sacred chalice to a friend whom he knew would travel back to Huesca, remaining in the monastery of Saint John of Pena, core of spiritual strength for the emerging kingdom of Aragon. While the Holy Chalice's exact journey through the centuries is disputed, it is generally accepted by Catholics that the Chalice was sent by his family to this monastery for preservation and veneration. Historical records indicate that this chalice has been venerated and preserved by a number of monks and monasteries through the ages. Today the Holy Grail is venerated in a special chapel in the Catholic Cathedral of Valencia, Spain. (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.

Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida: A Life Offered Up For Priests

Conchita teaches us how to love the Church.

To love the Church is not to criticize her, not to destroy her, not to try to change her essential structures, not to reduce her to humanism, horizontalism and to the simple service of a human liberation.

To love the Church is to cooperate with the work of Redemption by the Cross and in this way obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit come to renew the face of this poor earth, conducting it to its consummation in the design of the Father's immense love.

Conchita, a simple laywoman, far from criticizing priests, gives her life for them. In a sublime elevation of the Trinity she cries out: "I deliver into Your hands by an absolute, total, unconditional donation, all my being on behalf of priests. "I want to carry in my heart Our Holy Father, charged with the whole burden of the Church, the cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops, the parish priests, the priests, the seminarians who waver and struggle in their vocation.

"I myself am worth nothing, but I possess You and I beg You to utilize me for the good of the beloved Church and of all her hierarchies which I love and respect with all my heart."

Then, as did Therese of Lisieux who prophesied: "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth," Conchita ends her prayer saying to Christ, after having offered up her life even to her extreme agony for priests: "I will offer up my life for them on earth and I will spend my time in heaven in their service for Your love" (Diary, Nov. 30, 1928).

~ Excerpts from Conchita, A Mother's Spiritual Diary. edited by Marie-Michel Philipon, O.P , available online 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 vice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

What Does It Take to Be a Good 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, though the voice of His Church, to offer up to God Eucharistic adoration for priests. Amen.

What About the Priest Scandals?

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.

Why Catholic Priests Do Not Marry

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: "If we really loved the good God..."

"If we really loved the good God,

we should make it our joy and happiness

to come and spend a few moments to adore Him,

and ask Him for the grace of forgiveness;

and, we should regard those moments as the happiest of our lives."

~ St. Jean Vianney ~

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 Life of St. Jean Vianney

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. Peter Julian Eymard: The Happiness and Peace of Eucharistic Souls

"The spirit of Eucharistic love
will make you refer everything to the Holy Eucharist,
for the Eucharist is the summary of all marvels.
It is the permanent mystery in which we find all others...
God is immense, the universe is filled with God's presence,
but the Eucharistic soul
prefers to search and find God where He is sacramentally.
Just as the eagles assemble where the body is,
so also Eucharistic souls
are attracted instinctively, easily, and habitually to the Holy Eucharist.
Therein is their happiness, their peace;
there they find a supernatural knowledge of all things."

~ St. Peter Julian Eymard ~

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.

Letter to Priests of China: Thank you for your exemplary fidelity."

~ Related post: Ignatius Cardinal Kung, Priest Hero ~

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.