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The May Promoter
Spotlight:
World Day of Prayer for Priests
May 30th is the "World Day of Prayer for Priests". We are all called by the Holy Father to support our priests through prayer. This date was chosen to coincide with the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Indeed, the love of Jesus’ heart is made present to us today in the priests he has chosen. Some ways we are encouraged to participate in this initiative are given at www.WorldPriestToday.com and include:
· Set aside a holy hour of adoration to offer for priests
· Offer the Holy Mass and pray for priests worldwide
· Identify crosses in your own life to offer up for priests
Pope Benedict XVI has stressed the need for holy priests during his visit to the United States in April. As lay people, we are an integral part of this equation. Our prayers are essential for priests to persevere and fulfill their mission. Pope John Paul II instituted the World Day of Prayer for Priests in 2002, this year marking the sixth anniversary of this prayer outreach to support our priests.
Mark your calendar right now to remind yourself of this intention to keep the date. Assure that you pray especially for your parish priest. Given their weighty responsibilities and busy schedules, priests need all the prayers we, as a community, can give them.
Involve children to show them how to service our priests. They can participate in this day through family prayer and other ways. For example, the website (worldpriesttoday.com) contains PDF coloring cards, which can be downloaded and which children can decorate and give to their priests.
Promoting Vocations 101
Prayer – constant prayer for vocations and for the grace to promote vocations according to the will of God should be the basis of all our work.
The Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy received the blessing of our Holy Father to “bring about in the Church a movement of prayer, placing 24 hour continuous Eucharistic adoration at the center, so that a prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, petition, and reparation, will be raised to God, incessantly and from every corner of the earth, with the primary intention of awakening a sufficient number of holy vocations to the priestly state and, at the same time, spiritually uniting with a certain spiritual maternity—at the level of the Mystical Body—all those who have already been called to the ministerial priesthood and are ontologically conformed to the one High and Eternal Priest.” Eucharistic Adoration for the sanctification of priests and Spiritual Maternity
A special emphasis was made to invite women to become spiritual mothers of priests, imitating Mary, mother of the Eternal High Priest. This “motherhood” is based on spiritually adopting a priest and praying for him and his vocation. Spiritual mothers may offer holy hours, Masses, rosaries, and daily sacrifices for the intentions, vocation and mission of this particular priest.
Recognizing the power of a mother’s prayer, Pope Benedict encourages all women to consider being spiritual mothers to a priest in their parish or any one of the missionaries that serve the world.
Quote Corner:
“Every vocation to the priesthood comes from the heart of God, but it goes through the heart of a mother!”
Pope Pius X
Monthly Mission:
Fathers’ Day is coming up on June 15th. This is another great opportunity to thank priests for their service and sacrifice. Send a card of appreciation to a priest and offer an hour of Adoration for Vocations for him and his vocation once a month for the year to come.
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