Year for Priests
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 conclude in Rome with an international gathering of priests with the Holy Father on June 19, 2010.
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.
During this Year for Priests we are urged to pray for our priests and to encourage those God is calling to the priesthood. It is a year of personal renewal for those who are priests. One could say that it is a year when we all take a step back to reflect about Christ’s gift of priesthood. Too often we take our gifts and the gifts of others in our lives for granted.
Please join us in offering this prayer each day during this Year for Priests:
My Lord and my God out of love you created me to
know you, to love you, and to serve you in a unique
way, as no one else can. Grant me the grace I need
to see the next step in Your plan and to have the
generosity necessary to follow your call.
I pray for the priests of the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Albany. Bless, guide and reward the
priest who baptized me; the priest who absolved me
from my sins; the priest at whose Masses I assisted
and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy
Communion; the priest who taught and instructed
me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any
other way. Through their example and with your
grace, help other men to wholeheartedly answer the
Call to Priesthood in our diocese and in our Church.
I pray this in Jesus, our High Priest’s Name.
Amen.
“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!” – St. Catherine of Siena
