A Request for Priests
Fr. John Riccardo
October 6, 2021
These autumn weeks are typically ones where gatherings (convocations) of priests are held in dioceses across the country. Some dioceses hold them annually, while others gather every other year. We in ACTS XXIX have been privileged and honored to be part of a number of these gatherings over the past two plus years, enjoying the company of the priests, praying with them, sharing with them some insights we believe the Lord has shared with us, and watching the Holy Spirit do extraordinary things in them personally and collectively. Unfortunately, due to some health issues, a number of the fall gatherings we were so looking forward to being a part of have had to be postponed.
As this is the time of year when many of those who serve us in parishes and other ministries are away on retreat together, it seemed worth encouraging us to offer something to consider. I recently felt exhorted in prayer to make it a much more intentional part of my prayer on Thursdays to lift up priests before Jesus, the great High Priest. Why Thursday? Because Thursday is the day when Jesus not only instituted the Eucharist but the ministerial priesthood. As such, it’s a day that has been traditionally set aside to thank the Lord in a special way for these gifts.
Many of us are probably aware that priests, and deacons too, promise to pray the Divine Office, or the Liturgy of the Hours, on behalf of the people. For those who might not be aware, the Divine Office is a daily regimen of prayer, a way of sanctifying the various “hours” of the day, so that we can “pray ceaselessly” as St. Paul says (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The Divine Office is a combination of the Psalms, canticles from both the Old and New Testament, and extended readings from the Scriptures, various saints down through the ages, and, at times, Church documents (e.g., Vatican II). But what I think is worth sharing in these days when many of those who care for us pastorally are away on retreat is that they pray this for the Church, for the needs of the people they carry in their hearts and minds, and not for themselves.
As such, perhaps this is a good time to gently encourage the faithful to be ever more intentional, perhaps on Thursdays especially, to pray for priests, both those who serve them in their parishes, priests in general, and those who have died. What might that prayer look like? Well, to be sure, it will vary as the Spirit directs us, but here are a few thoughts to consider.
† Pray for priests who have died, especially those who baptized us, heard our confessions, witnessed our marriages, anointed us or our loved ones, and helped us in our faith.
† Pray for those who serve us in our parishes now, especially that:
→ The Lord will daily remind them that the call on their lives is not a functional one. In other words, to remind them that the Lord didn’t call them to come away as priests primarily to do something but to be something, to be with Him in a unique way.
→ The Lord will give them strength in times of trial and temptation and assault from the enemy.
→ The Holy Spirit will prevent them from ever getting used to handling the Body and Blood of Jesus at the altar every day.
→ The Lord will renew within them a fervor to study and to preach the Word of God.
→ The Lord will bring to them, as He did with Moses, wise men and women to help shoulder the load of leadership that is beyond any one man.
→ The Lord would bring them healing wherever it’s most needed.
Prayer is truly a remarkable thing. Because of the priesthood that we all share in baptism, we are able to approach God (!), to draw near to the One through Whom and for Whom everything exists, and to intercede on behalf of others. Let us be ever more cognizant of this great gift and seek to exercise it ever more intentionally in these days in which God has chosen for us to live.