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Today is the Feast of a saint who became a very great saint because of his great humility. Spiritual Moms, let us pray for our spiritual sons asking Saint John Marie Vianney and the Blessed Virgin Mary for their intercession.
Prayer for Parish Priests by Saint John Vianney
Dear Saint John Vianney, your childhood dream was to be a Priest, to win souls for God. You endured years of toil and humiliation to attain the Priesthood. You became a Priest truly after God's own heart, outstanding in humility and poverty; prayer and mortification. Totally devoted to the service of God's people. The Church has exalted you as model and patron saint of all Parish Priest, trusting that your example and prayers will help them to live up to the high dignity of their vocation to be faithful servants of God's people, to be perfect imitators of Christ the Savior Who came not to be served but to serve, to give His Life in ransom for many.
Pray that God may give to His Church today many more Priests after His own Heart. Pray for all the Priests under your patronage, that they may be worthy representatives of Christ the Good Shepherd. May they wholeheartedly devote themselves to prayer and penance; be examples of humility and poverty; shining modelss of holiness; tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God; zealous dispensers of God's Grace in the Sacraments. May their loving devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and to Mary His Mother be the Twin Fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry. Amen.
Prayer Source
Saint John Marie Vianney Quotes on the Priesthood
"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. When you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"O, how great is the priest! ... If he realized what he is, he would die."
"If we had faith, we would see God hidden in the priest like a light behind glass, like wine mixed with water."
"Without the priest, the passion and death of our Lord would be of no avail. It is the priest who continues the work of redemption here on earth...What use would be a house filled with gold, were there no one to open its door? The priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven: it is he who opens the door: he is the steward of the good Lord; the administrator of His goods...Leave a parish for twenty years without a priest and they will end by worshiping the beasts there..The priest is not a priest for himself, he is a priest for you."Quotation source
"Only after the Last Judgment will Mary get any rest; from now until then, she is much too busy with her children."- St. John Vianney
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Since the Curé of Ars' feast not only falls on a Saturday this year, but a First Saturday, let us offer the following prayer for all our priests.
Saturday Offering for Priests
Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, Who hast entrusted the whole work of Thy Redemption, the welfare and salvation of the world, to priests as Thy representatives, I offer Thee through the hands of Thy most holy Mother, all the prayers, works, sacrifices, joys and sorrows of this day for the sanctification of Thy priests.
Give us truly holy priests who seek nothing but Thy greater glory and the salvation of our souls. Bless their words and prayers at the altar, in the confessional, in the pulpit, in all their work for the young, the sick and the aged.
Do thou, O Mary, Mother of the High Priest, protect all priests from dangers to their holy vocation. Obtain for me a true spirit of faith and humble obedience so that I may ever behold the priest as the representative of God and willingly follow him in the Way, the Truth and the Life of Christ. Amen.
