The Lord inspired me to write these words on the occasion of my ordination jubilee. Yes, how can I thank the Lord enough for all his gifts?
This gift of the priesthood is beyond me. And in Ars, in the wake of the Holy Curé, we are well placed to realize this. Saint John Mary Vianney used to say:
” Oh, what a great thing a priest is! If he understood himself, he would die… God obeyed him: he said two words and Our Lord descended from Heaven. “(Esprit 113 – Monnin II 453 – I 342)
It’s so beautiful and great to celebrate Holy Mass, where Jesus gives himself to us, and to give God’s forgiveness. But at the same time I realize how far I am from what the Lord expects of me. As the Holy Curé used to say:
“Man is a poor man who needs to ask God for everything.”
So I’m discovering more and more the importance of prayer, to renounce self and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us even in the smallest actions of daily life. It is truly in the time of morning prayer and in the Eucharist celebrated each day that the Lord gives us his strength to be his servant.
“I will lift up the cup of salvation; I will call upon the name of the Lord.” (Ps 115:13)
It’s through the Eucharist that I want to give thanks to God, especially this Sunday, June 30, for having chosen me, despite my poverty, my unworthiness and my sin.
How important it is to pray for priests. Without your prayer, we cannot fulfill the mission entrusted to us by the Lord. You need priests to receive God’s life, priests need your fraternal, material and spiritual support. Let us pray especially for priests, where many in this period celebrate their ordination anniversary.(or: Let us pray especially for priests, where many in this period celebrate their ordination anniversary.
We also need to renew our prayers to the Lord for vocations. This is the only prayer intention Jesus left his Church in the Gospels: (Mt 9:38) ” Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into his harvest. ” And we must not only ask the Lord for priests, but for holy priests who are ready to give their lives for the Lord.
May the Virgin Mary, Mother of priests, accompany us all in our mission, root us in the life of her Son and help us in the Church to live a true fraternity, which will bear witness that Jesus is victorious over all sin and evil.
