| Wednesday, 10 June 2009 | |
 From 19 June 2009 to 19 June 2010, the Catholic Church celebrates her priests. Pope Benedict XVI called for a "Year of the Priest" that will conclude with a World Meeting of Priests in Saint Peter's Square in Rome. The Year is in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney, known as the "Saint Curé of Ars". The Pope made this announcement on the 16th of March 2009, during the plenary assembly of the Vatican Congregation for Clergy. In his address, Pope Benedict said he was calling for the special year for priests in an effort to foster the priest's yearning "for spiritual perfection, upon which the effectiveness of their ministry principally depends." The priestly ministry consists of total adherence to the ecclesial tradition of participating "in a spiritually intense new life and a new lifestyle which was inaugurated by the Lord Jesus and which the apostles made their own" he added. The Pope also underlined the "indispensable struggle for moral perfection which must dwell in every authentically priestly heart." "The awareness of the radical social changes over the past decades must stir the best ecclesial energies to look after the formation of priestly candidates". Priests must also be "present, identifiable and recognizable for their judgment of faith, their personal virtues and their attire in the fields of culture and charity which have always been at the heart of the church's mission," Pope Benedict XVI said, adding that, without priestly ministry, there would be no Eucharist, no mission and even no church. PRAYER FOR THE PRIESTS  Lord Jesus,In Saint John Mary Vianney you have deigned to give the Church a living image of yourself and a personification of your pastoral charity. Help us during this Year for Priests to live good lives by being close to him and his example. Grant that we may learn from the saintly Curé of Ars how to rest contentedly before the Holy Eucharist; to know that only your Word enlightens us each day; to know how tender is the love with which you welcome repentant sinners; how consoling is the confident abandonment to the care of the Holy and Immaculate Mother; how necessary is the ever-vigilant battle against Evil. Grant, O Lord Jesus, that from the example of the holy Curé our young men may once again realise how necessary, humble and glorious is the priestly ministry which you wish to entrust to those who open themselves to your call. Grant also to our communities - as once your did at Ars - those wonders of grace which you bring about when a priest knows to “make his parish a place of love”. Grant that our Christian families may find their home to be within the Church – where your ministers may always be found – and that they may enrich the domestic hearth with the beauty of the Church. Grant that the Charity of our pastors may enliven and enkindle the Charity of all the faithful, so that every vocation and every charism, given by your Holy Spirit, may be welcomed and honoured. But above all, O Lord Jesus, bestow upon us the ardour and truth of the heart that we may come before your Heavenly Father, making our own the same words that St. John Mary Vianney prayed to Him: I love You, O my God and my sole desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O infinitely lovable God and I prefer to die loving You than live one instant without loving You. I love You, O my God, and I do not desire anything but heaven so as to have the joy of loving You perfectly. I love You, O my God, and I fear hell, because there will not be the sweet consolation of loving You. O my God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to say it in every beat. Allow me the grace to suffer loving You, to love you suffering and one day to die loving You and feeling that I love You. And as I approach my end, I beg you to increase and perfect my love of You. AMEN |
Year of the Priest: the Church celebrates her priests
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