St. John Vianney – Patron Saint of Priests
Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Hebrews 5:1
In my prayer of late God has impressed upon me how desperately our Priests need our prayers and sacrifices. I know many of you probably already pray for Priests, but I feel God asking me to ask people to pray for a SPECIFIC Priest, and to offer the sufferings of your day for that Priest. This means you should take to prayer who God is to assign you to pray for. He will let you know some way and some how who you are specifically supposed to pray for. Be still and listen. Many of our Shepherds are lost, many are tired, many are saintly, but all need our prayer. By picking a specific Priest to pray for, it ensures that he is covered over. And prayer is powerful, it has efficacy. Pray for him to be a Saint. Pray for the Blessed Mother to cover him over, after all, they are all sons of Mary. Invoke the Saints to assist them.
Here is a prayer you can pray once the Lord lets you know who to pray for and offer the sufferings of your day for;
O Jesus, our great High Priest, Hear my humble prayers on behalf of your priest, Father [N]. Give him a deep faith, a bright and firm hope and a burning love which will ever increase in the course of his priestly life.
In his loneliness, comfort him. In his sorrows, strengthen him. In his frustrations, point out to him that it is through suffering that the soul is purified, and show him that he is needed by the Church, he is needed by souls, he is needed for the work of redemption.
O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests, take to your heart your son who is close to you because of his priestly ordination, and because of the power which he has received to carry on the work of Christ in a world which needs him so much.
Be his comfort, be his joy, be his strength, and especially help him to live and to defend the ideals of consecrated celibacy.
Amen.
Remember, these men bring us the Eucharist. Without them, we don’t have the greatest gift ever offered. Your sacrifice for them can bring the salvation of many souls.
Veil of Veronica 
Wow, Susan, what a time for me to read this. About 2-3 nights ago, I dreamed of a priest who is very close to our family, being in some kind of danger. Rather vague and a bit confusing, so while I did pray for him upon waking up, I only did for a day as I thought maybe it was just a dream. Now I’m thinking I need to take this further.
You will be added to my prayer list. And Since the Catholic Church compiled the Canon of Scripture (those books you read too only removing 7 after the reformation – which violates their own code of Sola Scriptura – and interestingly books that Jesus references). I will stick with my Catholic Bible.
Susan
I have been reticent to mention a dear priest from years past who we have in common. Fr. Arnold has been on my heart lately, though it has been 50 years since I last saw him. He was part of my painful youth and a strong influence in the gift of faith that is so prescious to me in these later years. He was my assistant pastor, confessor, h.s. religion and Latin teacher, coach and quiet example of “ordinary” saintliness. Your invitation to cover our priests with prayer is so personally appropriate for me now as I seek intervention for struggling family members by my current parish priests and other good people of prayer. Invoking the help of Fr. Arnold, who I trust will know and care about my personal cause from his place near our Lord, gives me great comfort and hope. Priests, like Fr. Arnold from a simpler Catholic Church of the past, can not only be trusted to intercede on our behalf, but also on behalf of those priests today who are challenged by this seemingly more complex, and often confusing, modern times. We do need the power of the Rose-beads, as our friend, Caitlynnegrace, calls them. God bless you on Mothers’ day. May you always know the joys of your special calling.
Benevolent Fr. Arnold and all good priests of heaven, look down on us and those living priests who God has placed in our lives today. Pray for those good men who today are beset with the snares of the devil. Call St. Michael and the hosts of angels to protect them and strengthen them in the battle for their souls and the souls of those who you have entrusted to their care.
Thank you,
God’s Child
After I read this piece, I was pondering and praying who to pray for specifically. I already pray for our parish priests, among others, but I felt I needed to be more specific as to whom my sufferings should be offered for. Two wks later, I got my answer.
During the homily, the priest celebrating mass announced he received new orders and will be transferred to another state. He then proceeded to relate his background and his “vocation story” and he then admitted that the first 2 yrs of his priestly life were very difficult. He’s been a priest for only 3 years. At that moment, I knew he was the one I needed to pray for.
We started the Seven Sisters Ministry at our Parish about 4 years ago. You gather 7 women who will offer prayer before the Blessed Sacrament 1 hour a week. Each woman takes a different day of the week so the priest is covered in prayer for the entire week. It is a very solitary ministry, which I love, it allows grace not only for the priest but also for those offering prayers. This ministry has really blown up in the last few years. You can go to sevensistersapostolate.org to learn how the ministry works and how you can implement it into your Parish.
That’s awesome. We have also started an intercessory prayer group. We are grouped in 4’s but we it is for men also. I will actually be writing a blog post on it soon. God Bless you for starting such a wonderful ministry!!
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