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Level IX · Union with the Heart of Jesus · practice 6 of 6

Praying for priests

Make the prayer for priests a permanent part of your devotional life — by name, and for the priesthood as a whole.

Why this practice

Among the promises Christ made to St. Margaret Mary was this: "I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts." The promise is bound up with the prayers offered for them. A priest in a parish is only as effective as the prayer that holds him up.

Pray for the priests who have served you. Pray for the priests of your own parish, by name. Pray for the priests under attack, in scandal, in spiritual difficulty. Pray for the priesthood as a whole — for vocations, for fidelity, for holiness.

How to begin

1Keep a short list of priests by name — those who have baptized you, confirmed you, married you, heard your confessions, formed you. Pray for them daily.
2Pray for the priests of your present parish each Sunday after Mass.
3Offer a Holy Hour, or part of one, specifically for priests — many parishes have such a Holy Hour on Thursdays.
4Make small acts of kindness toward priests. A note of thanks, a meal, a remembered birthday. They are easily forgotten.

The Sacred Heart does not raise up holy priests where no one is praying for them.

— Traditional

A prayer for this practice

Sacred Heart of Jesus, hold up Thy priests. Strengthen the weary, sanctify the wavering, restore the fallen, and raise up new priests after Thy own Heart. May they touch hardened hearts, as Thou hast promised.

Amen.