Prayers For Priests

 
Fr. Edward A. Sousa Jr. has asked the readers to pray for priests. He directed us to a beautiful Web site called "Prayers For Priests." I chose two prayers to share with you:

The first prayer is by St. Theresa of Lisieux

O Jesus, eternal Priest,
keep your priests within
the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,
where none may touch them.

Keep unstained their anointed hands,
which daily touch Your Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips,
daily purpled with your Precious Blood.

Keep pure and unearthly their hearts,
sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.

Let Your holy love surround them and
shield them from the world's contagion.

Bless their labors with abundant fruit and
may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and
consolation here and in heaven their beautiful
and everlasting crown.

Amen.

The second prayer is by the late John J. Cardinal Carberry:

Keep them; I pray Thee, dearest Lord.

Keep them, for they are Thine
The priests whose lives burn out before
Thy consecrated shrine.

Keep them, for they are in the world,
Though from the world apart.

When earthly pleasures tempt, allure --
Shelter them in Thy heart.

Keep them and comfort them in hours
Of loneliness and pain,

When all their life of sacrifice
For souls seems but in vain.

Keep them and remember, Lord,
they have no one but Thee.

Yet, they have only human hearts,
With human frailty.

Keep them as spotless as the Host,
That daily they caress;

Their every thought and word and deed,
Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.

Please keep priests in your prayers.