This is one of my favorite prayers for priests.
Keep them, I pray You, dearest Lord, Keep them, for they are Thine - Your priests whose lives burn out before Your consecrated shrine.
Keep them, for they are in the world, Though from the world apart; When earthly pleasures tempt, allure, Shelter them in Your Heart.
Keep them, and comfort them in hours O loneliness and pain, When all their life of sacrifice For souls seems but in vain.
Keep them, and O remember, Lord, They have no one but Thee, Yet they have only human hearts, With human frailty.
Keep them as spotless as the Host, That daily they caress; Their every thought and word and deed, Deign, dearest Lord to bless.
