Pope Benedict XVI: Renew Faith in Christ's Real Eucharistic Presence

"With the knowledge of being inadequate because of sin, but needful of nourishing ourselves with the love that the Lord offers us in the Eucharistic sacrament, let us renew...our faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. We must not take this faith for granted!'

"Stay with us Jesus,

make a gift of yourself

and give us the bread that nourishes us for eternal life!

Free this world from the poison of evil, violence and hatred that pollute consciences,

purify it with the power of your merciful love".

"And you, Mary,

who were the woman "of the Eucharist' throughout your life,

help us to walk united towards the heavenly goal,

nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ,

the eternal Bread of life and medicine of divine immortality".

Amen!

~ Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on Solemnity of Corpus Christ, 6/11/09 ~

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 adoration for priests. Amen.

The Priesthood of Christ Involves Suffering

"Christ was a true and effective priest because he was full of the power of the Holy Spirit, of all the fullness of the Love of God."

"It is this divine force that transforms extreme violence and extreme injustice into a supreme act of love and justice."

"The priesthood of Christ involves suffering. Jesus really suffered, and has done so for us. He was the Son and did not need to learn obedience to God, but we do, we have had to and we will always need to."

~ Pope Benedict XVI, 6/3/10 ~

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 adoration for priests. Amen.

Fr. John Cihak: Priests Conformed to Crucified Love

"Our configurement as priests is the Lord's Cross. That is the essential shape of our vocation. Our Lord entered His spousal relationship with the Church by being crucified, by dying, having His Sacred Heart thrust through with a lance. The only way this mystery becomes incarnate in our heart and flesh is through the cross.

"The priesthood is a beautiful life, but it is not an easy life...because the cross is the shape of our vocation, when you suffer as a priest it is not an indication that you made the wrong choice. It is, in fact, the confirmation that you made the right choice. Jesus confirms the vocation by conforming us more to the shape of crucified love, and so, in love, the Lord asks you to surrender to Him your idea of hapiness, your idea of what your priesthood will look like, your idea even of how to become a good priest--and to be willing to be taught and surprised by Him, and to be willing to enter into the darkness of sinners and to suffer with them and for them, and so be established in the supernatural joy of crucified love."

(Fr. John Cihak speaks about the gift of the holy Priesthood during the first Mass of Fr. Theodore Lange, St. Joseph Church in Salem Oregon, June 14, 2009.)

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

Priests Take the Place of Christ: A True and Perfect Sacrifice

"The priest who imitates that which Christ did,

truly takes the place of Christ,

and offers there in the Church

a true and perfect sacrifice to God the Father."

~ St. Cyprian (258 A.D.) ~

Highlights of the 2009 Priest Ordinations at St. Marys Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Oregon:

On Saturday, June 13, 2009, Archbishop John Vlazny ordained seven men to the priesthood. They were Fr. Eric Andersen, Fr. Fred Anthony, Fr. Mariano Escano, Fr. David Jaspers, Fr. Theodore Lange, Fr. Thomas Layton and Fr. Cary Reniva.

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: Union With Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar

"And it is precisely in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar that Jesus shows his will to be known, to live in us, to give himself to us. In adoring him, let us recognize the primacy of God, since he alone can transform human hearts, raising human beings to union with Christ in one Body. Indeed, in receiving the Body of the Risen Lord we experience communion with a Love that we cannot keep to ourselves: it demands to be communicated to others, so that we may thereby build together a more just society. Lastly, as we approach the conclusion of the Year for Priests, I invite all priests to foster a profoundly Eucharistic spirituality, after the example of the Holy Curé d'Ars who, in seeking to unite his personal sacrifice to that of Jesus, actualized on the altar, exclaimed: "How good it is for a priest to offer himself in sacrifice to God every morning!" And as I invoke through the intercession of Nossa Senhora Aparecida the abundant graces so that priests may be nourished by the Eucharist, bread of unity, to become true missionary disciples, I impart a heartfelt Apostolic Blessing to all."

~ Pope Benedict XVI, 5/9/10

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 adoration for priests. Amen.

Fr. Aloysius Ellacuria: The Fr. Aloysius Project

"... so that Fr. Aloysius be more widely known and loved ..."

Fr. Aloysius Ellacuria, CMF, was the well known Basque Claretian mystic, with reputation as a miracle worker in California, especially in the Los Angles area, in the 1950's through the 1970's. During these years, even the very famous would visit him, or seek him out for advice, or in some cases, receive through his intercession miraculous cures. Father Aloysius always attributed the many graces which people received to the goodness of the Almighty God. Among his many "gifts", Father had the charism of reading souls, expelling demons, and the gift of prophesy. He became well known for his unique presence, as he reflected peace and goodness. He was always grateful to God for many graces which God granted in request to his prayers on behalf of others. Gratitude to God was, for Father Aloysius, most important.

The Angel of Biscay (extended promo) from CatholicStudio on Vimeo.

~ Information about Fr. Ellacuria 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.

Sanctification of the Clergy: Serious Apostolic Mission

"Have no illusions about priestly holiness. Like all men, priests are locked in a combat to the death with the seven capital sins: pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Priests are, if anything, subject to more subtle and more violent temptations than anyone else because they are Satan’s preferred quarry...

"Souls called in a particular way to offer themselves for the sanctification of the clergy should entertain no illusions about the seriousness of their apostolic mission. There were, there are, and in all likelihood, there will continue to be some prideful priests, covetous priests, lustful priests, angry priests, gluttonous priests, priests who are drunkards, priests who consumed by envy, and priests who are lazy. One might be tempted then to say with the disciples, “Why then, who can be saved?’ (Mk 10:26). Listen to Our Lord’s reply. Jesus spoke it, according to Saint Mark, with His eyes fastened on the disciples. “Such things are impossible to man’s powers, but not to God’s; to God, all things are possible” (Mk 10:27).

"Read the appeal from Rome, asking women in all states of life to become spiritual mothers to priests, and calling for a worldwide movement of adoration in a spirit of reparation and supplication for the priesthood. It is not enough to read it once and file it away. Our Lord will hold those women who consent to spiritual motherhood accountable for the sins and for the sanctity of a multitude of priests. Does this shock you? It shouldn’t. Saint Paul says, “A man’s body is all one, though it has a number of different organs; and all this multitude of organs goes to make up one body; so it is with Christ. . . . If one part is suffering, all the rest suffer with it; if one part is treated with honour, all the rest find pleasure in it. And you are Christ’s body, organs of it depending upon each other” (1 Cor 12:12, 26-27). Again, the Apostle says in another place, “Bear the burden of one another’s failings; then you will be fulfilling the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).

~ Fr. Mark Kirby, excerpts from Impossible to Man's Powers, But Not to God's ~

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.