Support & prayers for our priests

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Do you pray for your priest/pastor, by name?
Daily, weekly?

Do you let him know that he is in your prayers and that he has your support?

I work for my diocese, I see how low the moral is among the priests in my area and how little support they get from the laity as well as from our Ordinary.

Let’s remember to keep them all in prayer, and tell them that we apprciate them and the sacrifices they have made for us.
 
I go to confession fairly regularly and go to all different priests.
A couple of the priests asked me to please pray for them at the end of the confession.
So I started telling each priest as I was saying goodbye that I would pray for him.

I pray for many other priests too (living and deceased) but I usually don’t tell them, unless it’s a case of the priest being someone I’m personally friendly with and he’s sick or something like that. I am fairly introverted so I don’t talk to a lot of people and that includes not talking to a lot of priests. But on the plus side I try not to bother the priests with a lot of requests or complaints or anything.

I have a weekly priest devotion for deceased priests that includes a prayer for living priests.
Sometimes I pray for living priests outside of the weekly devotion as well by adding particular priests into my prayer list. I also adopted a bishop to pray for in some Adopt-a-Bishop prayer program I found online.

I remember once about a year or so ago I stopped one of the handful of priests I know who is the current pastor of the church where I grew up, received sacraments etc. I wanted to ask him a question about a statue of a saint he had recently installed in the church, as I didn’t recognize the saint. I said after Mass, “Father, can I ask a question?” He responded kind of jokingly, “Am I in trouble?” I felt bad that he would immediately think someone was planning to complain about something he did. He must get a lot of that.
 
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Pope Francis, the Bishops, the priests and specifically my pastor and associate pastor by name are the first things I pray for when I start my daily rosary. I do not however let them know outright. That is something I need to work on. Thank you for this great post! This topic is incredibly important always but it seems especially right now.
 
This is the priest prayer I use. One of my parish prayer groups uses it. You can add categories of priests or individual priests to the list of “I pray for…” e.g. “and especially for Father Dan who broke his leg, that he recovers quickly” or “and for all the priests in my diocese” or “for every priest who ever gave me sacraments in my life” or “for all the priests to whom I promised prayers” or “for all priests who are impacted by the sex abuse scandals, whether justly or unjustly” etc.
Risen Lord Jesus, you love priests with all your priestly heart. Hear my heartfelt prayer for all our priests. I pray for faithful and fervent priests, for unfaithful and tepid priests, for priests who labor home and abroad, for tempted priests, for lonely and desolate priests, for young priests, old priests, sick priests, dying priests, and for the souls of priests in purgatory. Merciful Jesus, remember that your priests are but weak and frail human beings. Give them a deep faith, a bright and firm hope, and a burning love. I ask that, in their loneliness, you comfort them; in their sorrow, you strengthen them; in their frustrations, you show them that it is through suffering that the soul is purified. Eternal high priest, keep all your priests close to your heart, and bless them abundantly, in time and in eternity. Amen.
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This makes me think . It is " THE PRIEST: A PRAYER ON A SUNDAY NIGHT " From: Father Michel Quoist’s Prayers of Life .

Tonight, Lord, I am alone.
Little by little the sounds died down in the church.
The people went away,
And I came home,
Alone.

I passed people who were returning from a walk.
I went by the cinema that was disgorging its crowd.
I skirted café terraces where tired strollers were trying
to prolong the pleasure of a Sunday holiday.
I bumped into youngsters playing on the footpath,
Youngsters, Lord,
Other people’s youngsters who will never be my own.

Here I am, Lord,
Alone.
The silence troubles me,
The solitude oppresses me.
Lord, I’m 35 years old,
A body made like others,
ready for work,
A heart meant for love,
But I’ve given you all.
It’s true of course, that you needed it.
I’ve given you all, but it is hard, Lord.
It’s hard to give one’s body; it would like to give itself to others.
It’s hard to love everyone and to claim no one.
It’s hard to shake a hand and not want to keep it.
It’s hard to inspire affection, only to give it to you.
It’s hard to be nothing to oneself in order to be everything to others.
It’s hard to be like others, among others, and be an other to them.
It’s hard always to give without trying to receive.
It’s hard to seek out others and to be oneself unsought.
It’s hard to be told secrets, and never be able to share them.
It’s hard to carry others and never, even for a moment, be carried.
It’s hard to sustain the feeble and never be able to lean on one
who is strong.
It’s hard to be alone,
Alone before everyone,
Alone before the world,
Alone before suffering,
death,
sin.

Son, you are not alone,
I am with you.
I am you.
For I needed another human vehicle to continue my Incarnation
and my Redemption.
Out of all eternity, I chose you.
I need you.
 
Dear CilladeRoma,

Thank you for beginning this thread. My husband and I pray for all the clergy – Priests and Deacons, as well as for all the Church and those who are in most need of His Mercy.

We have worked in the Church for many years now at several different levels: at the parish, and at the Diocesan Level. My husband organized a program for the Formation of Deacons at a diocese in which we worked as well as a Program for Lay Ministry, and we taught in those programs as well.

We have met some prayerful, holy priests, with whom we keep in contact – although we live in different parts of the country. We are very grateful to God for them. We have also encountered other Bishops and priests who have been very difficult to work with and have scandalized some of their own clergy and people.

At this point in the history of the Church, we need to pray more than ever before, it seems to me, for an increasing dependence on the Holy Spirit, that He enlighten all our minds and strengthen us all in the Supernatural Faith, Hope and Charity received in Baptism. We have lay persons who “idolize” the clergy to the extent that they do not want to see or hear victims of abuse (sexual abuse as well as the abuse of power). We have Bishops likewise who seem not to see the horrendous nature of the abuse.

Let us continue, of course, praying for priests and add prayers for the entire Body of Christ including ourselves that we may be faithful to the Truth the Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father and Son to bring the Church into – that is the full stature of Christ.

One final note: We cannot have the fullness of Christ without Mary. St. John Paul II said it well:
…Where the Mother is, there too is the Son. When one moves away from the Mother, sooner or later he ends up keeping distant from the Son as well. It is no wonder that today, in various sectors of secularised society, we note a widespread crisis of faith in God, preceded by a drop in devotion to the Virgin Mother… – from an Address to the Legion of Mary, Oct. 1982
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Lord , the Great High Priest , bless our priests , many of whom are finding things hard .
 
Dear Rob and CajunJoy,

Thanks for your “hearts” in liking my post. Priests and People need one another in the building up of the Body of Christ. You may be interested in reading an article in Homiletic and Pastoral Review on line: See HERE
 
Most times when I pray (if not every day, at least several times a week), I pray for the Pope, all Church leadership, and each and every Catholic Priest. I then get more specific and pray for the Priests at my parish.
 
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This hits home. Our priest is from the Philippines, and a wonderful shepherd of his flock. He also suffers from severe depression. Tuesday night he called in another priest from the diocese to cover his scheduled Mass. Nobody has seen or heard from him since, not his fellow priests, our bishop, or the parish staff. A missing persons report was filed with the PD. His car was located at a nearby airport, and police were able to ascertain that a one-way ticket to Manila had been purchased and he indeed boarded the plane. Please pray for his health and safety, and that he is attentive to wherever God needs him to be, be that here with us, or home. Thank you all.
 

Jesus prays for His chosen ones​

“O holy Father, protect them with Your name those whom You gave me out of the world. I entrusted to them the message You entrusted to me and they received it. They have known that in truth I came from You, they have believed that it was You who sent me. For these I pray, not for the world. Bless and consecrate them, and I consecrate myself for their sakes. I do not pray for them alone; I pray also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may be holy by being one as we are. And I desire, Father to have them in my company where I am to see this glory of mine in Your kingdom…” [John 17:9, 17:20, 17:11]

Dear Jesus, I pray for You, in You, and with You for priests, souls, the Church, and the world. I keep watch with You, and remain in You within the Mystical Body, united with Your own eternal prayer of praise, thanksgiving, redemption, and love.
 

That he may be holy​

Thank You, God, for the gift of each priest to us. I offer him back to You. Fulfil Your will in him. Grant that he may bear fruit a-hundredfold, that his spirit is made perfect in Your sight.

Through Your Spirit, please witness the beatitudes in him. Let his prayer be, “Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I love You, above all, with my whole being. My brothers and sisters of all humankind, I love you as myself, as God loves me. I love you with His love poured through my being out of my self-giving in Him.”

Pardon each priest for his sins and their consequences. Pardon any way that he ever fails in his commitment to You. Restore and heal him. Lead him to overcome his faults. Transform into good anything that he may spoil by weakness, sin, or lack of knowledge.

May Your priest so belong to You, may he be so transformed by Your love that his faults no longer constitute offence in Your sight, nor foster anything that impedes Your will. This, my soul, in trusting confidence, implores, giving thanks for Your merciful love.

You, our Creator and our destiny, who said at the beginning of time, “Let there be light” and there was light, now say, “Let it be as is requested in these prayers”, and it shall be so. My God, I ask only what You surely desire to give! Lent 1980
 
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