A Prayer for Religious
Heavenly Father, in Your wisdom You have called
certain women and men to a life of consecration
so that in prayerful observance of poverty chastity,
obedience, they might be witnesses of our true
citizenship is in heaven.
Give them, Lord, the grace of joy and perseverance
in their holy vocations. We ask this through Christ,
our Lord, amen.
A Prayer for Priests
O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests:
Take to your heart your sons who are close to you
because of their priestly ordination and because
of the power they have received to carry on the work
of Christ in a world which needs them so much.
Be their comfort; their joy; and their strength. And
especially help them to live and to defend the ideals
of consecrated celibacy.
Lord Jesus, we Your people pray to You for our
priests. You have given them to us for our needs.
We pray for them in their needs.
We know that You have made priests in the likeness
of Your own priesthood.
You have: consecrated them; set them aside;
anointed them: filled them with the Holy Spirit;
appointed them to teach; to preach; to minister;
to console; to forgive; and to feed us with Your
Body and Blood.
We know that they are one with us and share
our human weaknesses. We know that they
are tempted to sin and to be discouraged as are
we; needing to be ministered to, as do we; to be
consoled and forgiven, as do we.
Indeed, we thank You for choosing them from
among us, so that they understand us as we
understand them, suffer with us and rejoice with
us, worry with us and trust with us, share our beings,
our lives, our faith.
We ask that You give them this day the gift You
gave Your chosen ones on the way to Emmaus:
Your presence in their hearts, Your holiness in
their souls, and Your joy in their spirits.
And let them see You face to face in the breaking
of the Eucharistic bread.
We pray to You, O Lord, through Mary, the Mother
of All Priests, for Your priests and for ours.
Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Adapted from a prayer by John Cardinal O’Connor.
Prayer for a Teacher
By Olga de Juana
Help me to be a fine teacher,
to keep peace in the classroom,
peace between my students and myself,
to be kind and gentle
to each and every one of my students.
Help me to be merciful to my students,
to balance mercy and discipline
in the right measure for each student,
to give genuine praise as much as possible,
to give constructive criticism
in a manner that is palatable to my students.
Help me remain conscientious
enough to keep my lessons always interesting,
to recognize what motivates each of my students,
to accept my student’s limitations
and not hold it against them.
Help me not to judge my students too harshly,
to be fair to all,
to be a good role model,
but most of all Lord, help me
to show Your love to all of my students. Amen.
