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June 23, 2019Feeling moved by the Holy Spirit to share this message with you, I will speak boldly: Those of you who already pray for priests, where are you?!“On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Promise was poured out on the disciples, gathered ‘together in one place." (Acts 2:1)
Can you make the time to gather “together in one place?” Praying for priests together, in a cenacle before the Blessed Sacrament is important! Our priests need your daily personal prayers, AND more than ever fervent prayers united with other disciples, united with your brothers and sisters before the Blessed Sacrament! We call upon priests in the most significant, life and death moments of our own lives; in gratitude, give back to our priests, pray for their needs in their human frailty, plead with God to make all priests holy, those who are already serving and those who will be called to the consecrated life … it is the least we can do!
I am pleading with you to make it a priority to sacrifice 90 minutes, once a month for our priests. I am so grateful to the eight people who regularly come to pray for priests on 1st Thursdays. Forgive me for my boldness, for I am speaking out of love and necessity for our priests … only eight is not good enough. These men we call priest are Alter Christus for us and carry out the work of salvation here on earth; it ought to look like Easter Sunday on 1st Thursdays, bursting with people there for Christ because our priests need our support and fervent prayers. Those of you who already pray for priests, are not prevented by illness, and are physically able to be at church the 1st Thursday of each month at 6pm during Adoration, we, the Body of Christ needs you to make this sacrifice for our priests.
Excerpt from a tribute written by Fr. Wolfgang Seitz, ORC“…The Lord once told His disciples, 'You are the salt of the earth' (Mt 5:13). With this expression, Jesus refers to all Christians, but especially to those called to labor in His vineyard. Through his fidelity, the life of a priest serves as salt in the eyes of God, making the whole people of God pleasing to Him. But what keeps the salt salty and useful is not just the faithfulness of the priests to their own vocation, but also the prayers and sacrifices and aid offered in support of them. Jesus Himself prayed for His Apostles, the first priests. Fr. Bill was keenly aware of his need for the prayers and support of others during his life. He would often ask people to pray for him. And many people in fact did pray and request Holy Masses for him so that he could remain a dedicated priest to the end.
There are so many priests —young, old, inexperienced, wise, weak, struggling, suffering, burden-bearers— all of them need our prayers. Often we perceive their weaknesses, faults and even sins, because in their human weakness they have to struggle with the effects of Original Sin like anyone else. Nevertheless, we must always remember that they are the primary targets of the Evil One. For Satan knows that when a good priest falls, he takes a thousand souls with him. When God allows us to see priests failing in their ministry we should not take this as an opportunity to criticize him, but we should understand it as God's appeal to us for prayer and sacrifice for His priests. As we have seen in past letters, the priesthood is a gift, one of the greatest gifts God has left for us on earth. For it draws down for us God Himself in the Eucharist and the other Sacraments. Let us therefore show our gratitude to God for this gift, for all his faithful and holy ministers, for all His hidden servants of the Word and of the Blessed Sacrament. We show our gratitude by both the material and spiritual support of these ministers of God. What we do for priests, we do for Christ.
We thank all of you, therefore, for your commitment to the Crusade for Priests this last year. Let us continue to pray and sacrifice with even greater fervor in this New Year for the sanctification of God's priests! All your little acts of love for priests, even the smallest, offered in union with the one Sacrifice of Christ are great in the eyes of God and bear fruits of holiness in His priests! May God bless and reward you all for the love you have for the priesthood!”
Our priests need us so much more than we know. While every prayer is a beautiful expression of your relationship with the Lord and your commitment to Him ... it is truly a gift and honor to engage in sacrificial prayer with a cenacle in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament for the sake of our priests. We all know that without priests, there would be no church and no one here on earth to feed Jesus' flock with Holy Communion, save our souls through reconciliation, and all of the other eternally priceless gifts and important work Our Lord has entrusted to His priests.
Please note, we will move our July cenacle to July 11th, 2019, the second Thursday due to the 4th of July holiday. The remainder of the year through December will remain 1st Thursdays!
Prayers begin at 6pm. Arrive a few minutes early if you would like to volunteer to lead a decade of the rosary. As always, if you must arrive late, that is okay! Your prayers for our priests are desperately needed and every prayer makes a difference.
If you are able, I hope you will join me to pray for Father Anthony Le, and all priests! Pray for priests, even if you or someone you love has been hurt by a priest, praying for those we struggle to forgive is perhaps the most healing thing you can do (I was only able to truly heal and forgive a great tragedy in my own life, only after praying for the one responsible) pray for the priests you love, the priests who have made a difference in your life, all priests need our Holy prayers, and all of us need Holy priests!
Sincerely, your sister in Christ,
Jessica Preciado
