Gift of Priesthood

[From a letter to a priest from St. Therese]

Praying for priests is central to our vocation as Carmelites. On Holy Thursday, the day we commemorate the Institution of the Eucharist and of the Priesthood, we hold our priests in prayer in a special way.

Praying with the words of St. Therese:
“This is the vocation of Carmel, because the only purpose of our prayers and our sacrifices is to be an apostle of the apostles, to pray for them while they evangelize souls by words and above all by example.

Divine Jesus, listen to the prayer I am turning to you for he who wishes to be your missionary: protect him in the midst of dangers in the world;… may he be an apostle, worthy of your Sacred Heart.

Oh Mary, sweet Queen of Carmel, I entrust to you the soul of this … priest. Teach him from now with how much love you touched the Divine Child Jesus… I ask you again to always protect him in the shade of your mantle…

 

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,
and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.

[excerpt from St. Therese’s Prayer for Priests]

Apr 8, 2020 | Blogs, Our Faith, Reflections

Related Posts

Merciful Like the Father

Merciful Like the Father

One of the most liberating gifts that we can receive from the Heart of our Heavenly Father and Jesus, our Savior, is the free gift of mercy. But do you sometimes find yourself struggling to receive this gift? I mean really receive, in the innermost depth of your being with unshakable certainty?

Our Merciful Mother

Our Merciful Mother

In the Anáhuac Valley of Mexico, on a barren hill called Tepeyac, Our Lady of Guadalupe came as a “merciful Mother,” a healer and restorer of all who are broken in body and in spirit. It is an amazing thought to consider that the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars” would place her feet upon the bloodstained soil of a nation’s festering woundedness.

He is Alive

He is Alive

Our Lord said to St. Faustina: “When I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, my hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul, but souls do not even pay attention to me. They leave me to myself and busy themselves with other things … they treat me as a dead object” (Diary 1385).