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Jesus, I pray to You for Your faithful and fervent priests; for the unfaithful and tepid; for those laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for tempted priests; for the lonely and desolate; for young priests; for the aged, sick, and dying; for the souls of Your priests in purgatory.But above all I commend to You the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptized me; those who absolved me from my sins; at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your body and blood in Holy Communion; who taught and instructed me or helped me and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way, particularly (NAME).
Dear Lord, we pray that the Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around your priests and through her intercession strengthen them for their ministry. We pray that Mary will guide your priests to follow her own words, "Do whatever He tells you" (Jn 2:5). May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph, Mary's most chaste spouse. May the Blessed Mother's own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the cross. May your priests be holy, filled with the fire of your love seeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. Amen. Saint John Vianney, pray for us.
O Jesus, our great High Priest, Hear my humble prayers on behalf of your priest, Father [N]. Give him a deep faith, a bright and firm hope, and a burning love which will ever increase in the course of his priestly life. In his loneliness, comfort him. In his sorrows, strengthen him. In his frustrations, point out to him that it is through suffering that the soul is purified, and show him that he is needed by the Church, he is needed by souls, he is needed for the work of redemption. O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests, take to your heart your son who is close to you because of his priestly ordination, and because of the power which he has received to carry on the work of Christ in a world which needs him so much. Be his comfort, be his joy, be his strength, and especially help him to live and to defend the ideals of consecrated celibacy. Amen. (Written by John Joseph, Cardinal Carberry (+1998), Archbishop of St. Louis 1968-1979)
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