Priests in Crisis: Spiritual Warfare

An important resource, Priests in Crisis, has been added to the sidebar. Anyone sincere about helping our Catholic priests should check out this site and pass it on to your priests. You never know when the information on this site might be of help to them or to some suffering priest that they know.

This need for support when priests are in crisis was sadly obvious last week when 60-year-old Father Dennis Rocheford jumped to his death from a bridge in Rhode Island. May his soul rest in peace. Please pray for the repose of his soul.

All the armies of hell are waging war against the Catholic Church. Their main targets are priests and those who are being called to the priesthood. They want weak priests, lax priests, discouraged priests, fallen priests. They would be happiest if there were no priests. They recognize the power of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in this spiritual warfare for souls. They know too well the power of the Eucharist. They work persistently to encourage anything that results in fewer Masses, less reverently said Masses, a congregation less reverent and more distracted at Mass or when in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament--these are some of their weapons.

The powers of darkness hate Jesus and they hate His priests. Without priests there would be no Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, no Holy Communion, no Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist in our tabernacles, no Sacrament of Reconciliation, no last Sacraments for the dying, no Sacrament of Confirmation, no Sacrament of Holy Orders.

We are in a serious situation in the Church and in the world. We need holy priests more than ever. It is time for all Catholics to think about what is most important in their lives. If having the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is important to us, prayer and sacrifice for priests should be an important part of our lives.

We need more priests. We need holy priests. If priests are in short supply and some are not as holy as they should be, we need to ask ourselves what have we done to help the situation. We also might ask ourselves what we would want done for ourselves if we (or our son or brother) were in their shoes. In reality, what we do for priests, we do for Jesus. Can any of us say we have done enough?

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AN APPEAL FOR ONE HOUR OF EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR 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.

The Cry of Unborn Future Priests

Have you ever thought of how many future priests might have been victims of abortion? Faithful prayer warriors/counselors who keep vigil outside abortion centers could tell you that it is not unusual to see rosaries hanging from car mirrors of abortion clients, or for girls/women who are coming for abortions to admit to being Catholic.

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In this Year of the Priest, it would be good to include prayers for the protection of all unborn future priests--not just those already conceived, but all those who will be conceived until the end of time. Almighty God, their Creator, already knows the ones that have been chosen by Him to be His priests: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." (Jeremiah 1:5).

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I know one faithful priest whose birth mother chose life for her baby, and unselfishly gave him up for adoption. Through her generosity, the Church has gained one very good priest. With how many more Masses, Holy Communions, priestly blessings, Confessions heard, teachings on the Gospel of Jesus, hours of Eucharistic adoration, etc. has the Church been blessed because of this one priest?--too many to count! How many blessings have we possibly missed because future priests were aborted? Since the Church has an admitted shortage of priestly vocations, (especially in some nations), could one reason be that many of the unborn priests God provided for His Church were not allowed to be born?

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The USA is definitely one of the nations suffering a shortage of priestly vocations.

It does not seem unreasonable to assume that some of the approximately FIFTY MILLION unborn who were deliberately and legally aborted in our nation might have been chosen by God for the priesthood. According to the Official Catholic Directory 2009, 22% of the USA population are registered Catholics.

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With such a high percentage of USA Catholics, now and in the past, how could it come to pass that abortion became legal in this nation and continues to remain legal? We have the privilege to vote to protect human life from conception to natural death! We have freedom to gather in worship and prayer to beg God's powerful protection of our tiniest brothers and sisters in Christ and for the conversion of hearts! We have priests, other Christs, to teach the sanctity of life! When there are 68 million American Catholics, Christian soldiers, armed for battle by the power of the Holy Spirit--how can it be that God's unborn children are allowed to be legally killed in America at the rate of FOUR THOUSAND each day?

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For the unborn who have already been aborted, (including the unborn chosen for priesthood), we can beg God's forgiveness and make reparation. For those still at risk, we can join the spiritual battle for their lives and for the souls of those involved in the sin of abortion. There is much we can do, but at this time I urge you to join the 40 Days for Life campaign which will begin on September 23, 2009--a peaceful, ecumenical, international campaign for life based on prayer, fasting, peaceful vigil outside abortion centers, and community outreach. 40 Days for Life is a highly endorsed, effective weapon in the spiritual warfare waged against the unborn. Even if you've never before been actively involved in saving the lives of the unborn, please consider getting involved NOW--YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

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Blessed Mother, thank you for saying "yes" to life for Jesus, the one Eternal High Priest and Savior of mankind! Please protect the lives of the unborn chosen for priesthood (and all the unborn) until the end of time. Through your powerful intercession, I beg for a miracle of grace for the USA and the whole world--that the lives of future priests (and all the unborn) will be cherished and nurtured as the blessings from God that they are.

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. James Farfaglia: GOD IS WITH US

Father James Farfaglia has posted another outstanding homily to his blog. On his sidebar, Father states that, "TO PREACH THE GOSPEL WITH CONVICTION AND PASSION IS THE GREATEST DUTY OF A PARISH PRIEST."

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I have also been blessed recently to hear some excellent, out of the ordinary, homilies from parish priests where I have attended Mass--priests who are not out to win a popularity contest, but to save souls. It should be encouraging for those of us who pray for priests to witness, or hear about, the Holy Spirit at work in priests in a powerful way!

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Jesus revealed to Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, spiritual mother of priests, "...the true priest ought to seek...to move to compunction, to contrition, to captivate souls with the divine, to uproot souls from the earth; to remind them of their last ends; to encourage them in the exercise of virtue; to ponder My Passion; to instruct them of My life of love and sacrifice, enamor them with the cross, of suffering, of their calvaries; instructing them about the price of Redemption and of sacrifice; to open their eyes to the horizon of perfection and facilitate for them the path to heaven."

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The priests who preach the whole truth of the Catholic faith are the ones most under attack by the prince of darkness and his troops who directly attack the priests in whatever ways they can. They will even use parishioners who don't want to hear the truth to criticize, complain, spread gossip, and sometimes invent false rumors to discredit the priests. Catholics who don't want to hear sound preaching can be vicious to their priests. Sad to say, they probably don't even realize that it is NOT the Holy Spirit who is motivating them, but the forces of evil.

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Priests who are preaching what is popular and easy to hear are applauded and praised and can be easy prey for the trap of human respect. It is comfortable to be liked and appreciated. Sometimes priests who take the easier road will be the devil's tool to attack their more devout and courageous brother priests.

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To Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, Jesus also said, "The mission of the priest is to disseminate My teaching, to move people to repentance, to enlighten the spirit, to convert souls, to make hearts respond and not to throw out allurements to draw forth praise."

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God bless Your priests; fill them with Your grace; help them to be saints! Lord, we trust in You to enlighten, protect, strengthen, and help priests, and the rest of us, to avoid the traps set for us by Your enemy and ours. Thank You, Lord!

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.

Be Attentive to the Holy Spirit

If you feel inspired to do something spiritually beneficial for God's priests, don't let discouragement or fear stop you--they are two of the greatest weapons that the prince of darkness uses against us! He and his cohorts are always around to discourage us from any expression of love for God and neighbor. He uses our inclination toward pride in hopes of immobilizing us--our fear of failure, fear of looking foolish or inept in the eyes of others, fear of criticism, fear of unfavorable comparisons to others who are more gifted. What does it matter how gifted we are as long as we are as gifted as God wants us to be!

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There will always be someone who can do IT better than you whether it is leadership, writing, speaking, thinking, praying, etc., but no one can do it exactly like you. God made you who you are because He loves YOU and has given you the gifts you need to do what He wants of you. Thank God for the gifts He has given you and the ways He wants to use YOU! The important thing is to be attentive to what the Holy Spirit is asking of you and to do it to the best of your ability--as limited as that might be--and leave the results to Him.

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I admit that not so very long ago I did not even know what a blog was. I am a novice on the computer, not knowing much and learning as I go. That explains any lack of technical skills you might notice. I had to call for help to learn how to embed a video and how to highlight a link in the text without showing the whole long url address. When you see *** or +++ between paragraphs or lines, it is not because of some notion of style, but because I had problems with the spacing on the post not appearing where it should (and too busy to read all the blog helps to see how to correct it).

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I have much to learn, but I am confident that I will be able to learn what God considers important for me to know. If I had waited until I knew what I was doing--I still wouldn't have started; and before I knew it the Year of the Priest would be over, and I would not have followed the inspiration to start this blog. I am not someone who has ever kept a diary or journal and is naturally inclined to write. I depend every day on the Holy Spirit to inspire me.

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A beginning blogger might unwisely become discouraged after checking out some of the other Catholic blogs whose authors are much more knowledgeable, eloquent, computer savvy, and experienced. However, I am in absolute awe at what the Holy Spirit is doing through them--and also overjoyed! It is an encouraging and hopeful sign for the Church!

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As part of the mystical body of Christ, with Jesus as our head, we all benefit from the healthy spirituality of other members and from all of the good that they do. We should rejoice and thank God when others are spiritually enriching the mystical body of Christ!

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For many years I have been inspired to pray for priests. God has impressed upon me the great need to support and shield them with all of the spiritual means at our disposal. Because He gives me no rest on this issue, I want to share this urgency with others, but am usually able to share it with so few. This blog gives me the opportunity to reach out with an appeal on behalf of priests to all my brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world who might be led by the Holy Spirit to read it.

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I think most Catholics love and appreciate their priests, but think of them as providers and nurturers--spiritual Fathers providing for our needs. They often will do many things to support priests in temporal matters, but don't think of their spiritual needs, considering them to be stronger, more faithful, less tempted because of the graces of their vocation.

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The Holy Spirit has inspired the Congregation for the Clergy to ask for Eucharistic Adoration and Spiritual Motherhood for Priests (December 8, 2007), and has inspired the Holy Father to declare a Year of the Priest (June 19, 2009-June 19, 2010). It is obvious that He is asking us to spiritually uplift our Catholic priests. THEY NEED OUR HELP! He is asking it of all Catholics, including priests who are called to spiritually support their brother priests.

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With more than a billion Catholics in the world, if each of us who are able to do SOMETHING would offer spiritual gifts for priests DAILY, the benefits could be immense for priests, the Church, for Catholics, and for all the people of the world!

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I suggest that you pray and ask God what He wants YOU to do for His priests. Sincerely seek His enlightenment, if you haven't already. Some are called to do more than others, but most of us are called to do SOMETHING--and best if it is done DAILY because then it becomes a good habit. I encourage you to begin today to offer your spiritual gift for priests, if you haven't already started. Don't put off what you can do today. The prince of darkness loves it when we procrastinate and opportunities to do good are wasted!

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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.

The Greatest World War

There is a war going on throughout the entire world--the worst of wars with more casualties than in all the other wars combined. The wounded and the lost are uncountable, but that doesn't lessen the reality of the disastrous toll.

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Most people are unaware of this war because the enemy is hidden. All people of all nations are affected by this war, waged against us by a common enemy. We are all united in this at least--we have an enemy who seeks to destroy all of us who live on the face of the earth.

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Our enemy worms himself into minds and hearts to influence thoughts and actions. HE IS MERCILESS! No one is exempt from his hateful trickery. His intelligence is so great that he can easily outmaneuver us, unless we are sufficiently armed for battle. His pride and deceit know no bounds, and he infiltrates where there is the least opening.

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Our enemy sows hate, discord, lies, discouragement, and confusion wherever he can. He exults in loss of faith, failed marriages, broken homes, ruined lives, aborted lives, national disharmony, and international warfare. He is bold and relentless, determined to be the victor in the final analysis of this long war.

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Anyone that sows hope, love, and faith in Jesus Christ is his enemy. Acts of love and mercy are hateful to him. Prayer, fasting, penance, and mortification are powerful weapons against him, so he does all in his power to discourage the use of them.

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WHAT OUR ENEMY FEARS MOST is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross is made present again. He knows better than we do the infinite power of the Mass. Jesus died once on the Cross, but arranged it so that His sacrifice for our redemption would be made present over and over again through His ordained Catholic priests.

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Saint John Vianney, patron of priests, had this to say: "When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion."

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Even if many don't believe what the Catholic Church teaches about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, our common enemy believes! He knows the truth. That is why he does all in his power to discourage attendance at Mass, worthy reception of Holy Communion, and Eucharistic adoration. He promotes lack of faith in the Eucharist, irreverence toward Jesus in the Eucharist, unworthy reception of Holy Communion, and desecration of the Eucharist.

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The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ and our Mother, had this to say to Venerable Mary of Agreda about our common enemy:

"Lucifer and his demons have such a fear of the Holy Eucharist, that to approach it causes them more torments than to remain in hell itself. Although they do enter churches in order to tempt souls, they enter with aversion, forcing themselves to endure cruel pains in the hope of destroying a soul and drawing it into sin, especially in the holy places and in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. Their wrath against the Lord and against the souls alone could induce them to expose themselves to the torment of His Real Sacramental Presence."

Our Blessed Mother also said:

"...the demons fear the souls who receive the Lord worthily and devoutly and who try to preserve themselves in this purity until the next Communion. But there are very few who live with this intention, and the enemy is ceaselessly alert in striving to throw them back into their forgetfulness, distraction and indifference, so that he may not be obliged to encounter such powerful weapons in the hands of men."

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The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist means that Jesus stays with us as He promised! When He said, "...behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world (Matthew 28:20)--He meant what He said! If some misunderstand His meaning, that does not lessen the truth of what he meant. He is with us to arm us for battle--to spiritually nourish us, transform us, strengthen us, protect us! We are at war, but our Savior is here to lead us on to victory--if we faithfully follow Him!

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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.

Father, Forgive Them!

When thinking of Jesus' words on the Cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."(Luke 23:34), some might argue that His persecutors knew very well what they were doing to Him. They might say the same about priests who have offended or injured others in some way, sometimes catastrophically. Some might insist that with all the advantages of priestly education and the special graces of their vocation there is no excuse for them.

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I like to think that most of us would not do bad things to other people if we really "knew" what we were doing--if we weren't somehow blinded spiritually. Would any of us who claim to know and love Jesus deliberately strike Him, spit in His face, beat Him, torture Him, crucify Him? If we could actually see the effects of our sins and what Jesus suffered for our sake, would we be as quick to look in His eyes and say , "I don't care how this hurts You, Jesus. I'm going to do it anyway!" I don't think so, at least not if we really love Him.

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We all suffer from a degree of spiritual blindness, some more, some less-and not because we necessarily want to be 'blind' or resistant to His grace. For various reasons known only to God, He allows us to walk in a measure of darkness and struggle to find the light.

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Priests are no different than the rest of us in this struggle, but their responsibilities before God are much greater. Because of the spiritual power of their vocations as other Christs and Fathers of souls, priests are the ones under the greatest attack by the unseen forces of evil who seek to destroy the priesthood and the Catholic Church. These words of St. Alphonsus Liguori bear repeating:

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"For every one demon which attacks a layman, one thousand attack the priest."

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"The good morals and salvation of the people depend on good pastors. If there is a good priest in charge of the parish, you will soon see devotion flourishing, people frequenting the Sacraments and honoring the practice of mental prayer. Hence the proverb: Like pastor, like parish."

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It's not hard to see that the prince of darkness and his cohorts have a lot to gain by the spiritual decline of even just one priest. In his years as a priest he is responsible for the salvation of thousands of souls. If they can make only one priest compromise the truth, become lukewarm, or in some way fall from grace, the eternal effects on souls entrusted to him can be disastrous! A priest never falls without taking others with him., and that is the goal of evil personified.

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It is in the best interests of the Catholic Church, of all Catholics, and of future generations of Catholics that we get serious about the spiritual warfare being waged against all of us, especially through attacks on our Catholic priests. We must "not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) The unseen enemy is deadly serious. His goal is for souls to be lost for all eternity. We need to be equally serious about defending our Church, our priests, and Jesus in the Eucharist. Powerful weapons available to us are Eucharistic adoration, prayer, fasting, and sacrifice.

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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.