+Prayer For Priests+

Dear Lord, we pray that the Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around your priests and through her intercession strengthen them for their ministry.We pray that Mary will guide your priests to follow her own words, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph, Mary’s most chaste spouse. May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the cross. May your priests be holy, filled with the fire of your loveseeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. Amen. Saint John Vianney, pray for us.
-From the USCCB

On the occasion of his ordination to the priesthood, St. Norbert said, "O Priest! You are not yourself because you are God. You are not of yourself because you are the servant and minister of Christ. You are not your own because you are the spouse of the Church. You are not yourself because you are the mediator between God and man. You are not from yourself because you are nothing. What then are you? Nothing and everything. O Priest! Take care lest what was said to Christ on the cross be said to you: 'He saved others, himself he cannot save!'"

"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus."
+St. John Vianney

"The priesthood is an astounding miracle, great, immense, and infinite."
+St. Ephrem

"One kneels in the consciousness of one's nothingness and rises a Priest forever."
+St. John Vianney

"The gift of the sacerdotal dignity surpasses all understanding. For us it is enough to know, that Jesus Christ has said that we should treat his priests as we would treat his own person: "He who hears you, hears Me; he who despises you, despises Me."
+St. Ephrem

"When you see the priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ."
+Saint John Vianney

"He who honors a priest, honors Christ; and he who insults a priest, insults Christ."
+St. John Chrysostom

"To love God and not to revere the priest … this is not possible."
+St. Josemaría Escrivá

"Knowing then the greatness of their (priests') danger, treat them with much consideration, for as St. Paul says: They watch for your souls; and not simply this but as having to render an account of them. Because of this you must treat them with honor."
+St. John Chrysostom

"If I saw an angel and a priest, I would bend my knee; first to the priest and then to the angel."
+St. Francis of Assisi

"O venerable dignity of priests, in whose hands the Son of God becomes incarnate anew as He formerly became incarnate in the womb of Mary!"
+St. Augustine

"All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison, for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man."
+St. John Vianney

"The power of the priest is the power of the Divine person; for the transubstantiation of the bread requires as much power as the creation of the world."
+St. Bernardino of Sienna

"As by the Word of God, Jesus our Savior was made Flesh and had both Flesh and Blood for our salvation, so also the food which has been blessed by the word of prayer instituted by Him is both the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Incarnate."
+St. Justin Martyr

"As the Word of God created Heaven and earth, the words of the priest create Jesus Christ.” At a sign from God there came forth from nothing both the sublime vault of the Heavens and the vast extent of the earth; but not less great is the power that manifests itself in the mysterious words of the priest."
+St. Jerome