PRAYER FOR THE YEAR FOR PRIESTS

Lord Jesus,

In Saint John Mary Vianney you have deigned to give the Church a living image of yourself and a personification of your pastoral charity.

Help us during this Year for Priests to live good lives by being close to him and his example.

Grant that we may learn from the saintly Curé of Ars how to rest contentedly before the Holy Eucharist; to know that only your Word enlightens us each day; to know how tender is the love with which you welcome repentant sinners; how consoling is the confident abandonment to the care of the Holy and Immaculate Mother; how necessary is the ever-vigilant battle against Evil.

Grant, O Lord Jesus, that from the example of the holy Curé our young men may once again realise how necessary, humble and glorious is the priestly ministry which you wish to entrust to those who open themselves to your call.

Grant also to our communities - as once your did at Ars - those wonders of grace which you bring about when a priest knows to “make his parish a place of love”.

Grant that our Christian families may find their home to be within the Church – where your ministers may always be found – and that they may enrich the domestic hearth with the beauty of the Church.

Grant that the Charity of our pastors may enliven and enkindle the Charity of all the faithful, so that every vocation and every charism, given by your Holy Spirit, may be welcomed and honoured.

But above all, O Lord Jesus, bestow upon us the ardour and truth of the heart that we may come before your Heavenly Father, making our own the same words that St. John Mary Vianney prayed to Him:

I love You, O my God and my sole desire is to love You until the last breath of my life.

I love You, O infinitely lovable God and I prefer to die loving You than live one instant without loving You.

I love You, O my God, and I do not desire anything but heaven so as to have the joy of loving You perfectly.

I love You, O my God, and I fear hell, because there will not be the sweet consolation of loving You.

O my God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to say it in every beat.

Allow me the grace to suffer loving You, to love you suffering and one day to die loving You and feeling that I love You.

And as I approach my end, I beg you to increase and perfect my love of You.

AMEN.