Year for Priests Begins!

Pope Benedict XVI has declared a “Year for Priests” beginning with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19, 2009. The year will end in Rome on June 19, 2010.

Also, with the announcement of this Year for Priests, the Pope has declared St. John Vianney the Universal Patron of Priests on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of the Curé d’Ars.

What else can I say other than I am very excited about this! I am excited for the opportunity to visit and help our dear priests. I am also excited to teach my boys during this year (well at least the oldest will be able to understand:) everything about the priesthood, and what a gift it is, not just for the men who become priests, but for the faithful people that they patiently guide.

Most of all, I am excited to spend more of the next year in prayer for our dear, dear Fathers. They need our prayers so much! Think of the temptations that they must go through! They bring Christ to so many people, I'm sure the evil one isn't happy about that. Their blessed hands are consecrated for just this purpose! But priests are human, just like all of us, and they need support and companionship and love. I hope and pray to see some kind of a renewal, especially amongst us mothers, in the church of taking better care of our beloved priests,getting more involved in their lives, and just being available always to help them in any way we can, even making sacrifices for them! Think about it, without our Holy priests, we would all be so lost and have nothing, because they bring us Jesus in the Eucharist!

To start the year off, here are some links that I gathered about the 2009 Year for Priests:

Go HERE to find that the USCCB has a site filled with information about this special year. Also, HERE is a direct link at the USCCB where you can find FREE printable prayers pertaining to the year for priest.

A great article, by Cardinal Justin Rigali on the Year for Priests and St. John Vianney.


And a blog dedicated to this year in 2009 for priests.

A PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord, Keep them, for they are Thine-
Thy priests whose lives burn out before they consecrated shrine.
Keep them, for they are in the world, Through from the world apart;
When earthly pleasures tempt, allure,- shelter them in Thy Heart.
Keep them, and comfort them in hours of loneliness and pain.
When all their life of sacrifice for souls seems but in vain.
Keep them, and O remember, Lord they have no one but Thee,
Yet they have only human hearts, with human frailty.
Keep them as spotless as the Host, that daily they caress;
Their every thought and word and deed, deign, dearest Lord, to bless.