(c)Mary TV 2015
J.M.J.
July 15, 2015
St. Bonaventure
Dear Family of Mary!
"I implore you to pray a lot for your shepherds, to pray so as to have all the more love for them because my Son gave them to you to feed you with his body and to teach you love. Therefore, also you are to love them. But, my children, remember, love means to endure and to give, and never, ever to judge. Thank you." (July 2, 2015)
It
is a very beautiful experience to pray with love. When we pray with all
our hearts, out of love for someone, our hearts sing! Compassion,
empathy, communion, the bond of love...these things make our prayers
soar!
Our Lady encourages us to cultivate love for those we pray for, especially our priests!! She tells us to "Pray so as to have all the more love for them..."
This means to remember all the reasons why we are grateful for them. It
also means to remember all the reasons why we have compassion for them,
empathize with their sufferings and bond with them in their humanity.
To love our priests with real, down to earth love means to take them as
they are, never judge them, thank God for them and do all we can to help
them. They are such great gifts to us.
Cardinal
John O'Connor wrote a wonderful prayer for us to pray for our priests.
It does exactly what Our Lady requests, it helps us pray with all the
more love for them.
John Cardinal O'Connor - Prayer for priests
Lord
Jesus, we your people pray to You for our priests. You have given them
to us for OUR needs. We pray for them in THEIR needs.
We
know that You have made them priests in the likeness of your own
priesthood. You have consecrated them, set them aside, anointed them,
filled them with the Holy Spirit, appointed them to teach, to preach, to
minister, to console, to forgive, and to feed us with Your Body and
Blood.
Yet
we know, too, that they are one with us and share our human weaknesses.
We know too that they are tempted to sin and discouragement as are we,
needing to be ministered to, as do we, to be consoled and forgiven, as
do we. Indeed, we thank You for choosing them from among us, so that
they understand us as we understand them, suffer with us and rejoice
with us, worry with us and trust with us, share our beings, our lives,
our faith.
We
ask that You give them this day the gift You gave Your chosen ones on
the way to Emmaus: Your presence in their hearts, Your holiness in their
souls, Your joy in their spirits. And let them see You face to face in
the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.
We pray to You, O Lord, through Mary the mother of all priests, for Your priests and for ours. Amen.
May our hearts soar with love for our priests! They are such a heavenly gift!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2015
(c)Mary TV 2015
"Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world."
Saint John Paul II
Be connected!
www.marytv.tv
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please no anonymous comments. I require at least some way for people to address each other personally and courteously. Having some name or handle helps.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.