Pray for Father When He Receives Holy Communion + A Challenge For Your Week

+J.M.J.+

When was the last time you prayed for your priest?

In the past at Holy Mass, I had so many intentions, prayers of thanksgiving, and people in my heart that I would forget to pray for the man who is literally there in Persona Christi, in the place of Christ.

Our priests never stop working once they answer God’s call. They are hearing our confessions, preparing converts for entrance into the Church, marrying us, burying us, answering a million questions from parishioners, evangelizing, visiting the sick, and of course, offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for us. Our tired, laboring priests have devoted their lives to our sanctification and need our prayers.

I would like to challenge you this week to pray the prayer below for your priest while he receives Holy Communion at Mass, and also make one small sacrifice for his intentions this week. Imagine if every person in a parish made one sacrifice a week for their priest like not having seconds of a favorite dish at dinner, not running the water as hot as one would like in the shower, skipping dessert, or getting off of the internet for the evening, how many graces that priest would be granted!

Years ago I memorized this off of a prayer card for Father when he is receiving Holy Communion. You may have seen it before, but most people I mention it to have never heard of it.

(Also, for those of you who attend the Latin Mass and don’t know when the priest receives, it is after the three bells a minute after the Agnus Dei. He is saying his Domine Non Sum Dignus, “Lord I am not worthy…”, when those bells ring, and then you will see him bow very low to the altar, and that is when he is receiving Jesus.)

A Prayer at the Priest’s Communion

O Lord, may You find shelter and rest gently within the heart of Thy priest. Make him, O Lord, a priest according to Thy heart: meek, humble, and zealous, so that all he does will be for Thine honor and glory, and the salvation of souls. Mold him into a man of prayer and labor, insensible to earthly things, and sensible only to Thy love and to the graces of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

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