There’s a new prayer initiative at the Catholic Churches of Jennings County.
Father Jerry Byrd announced a Prayer Cenacle of support for priests and the seven men in seminary from the Catholic Community of Jennings County.
“We need to allow ourselves to be transformed and converted to be made into the men and women God wants us to become,” Father Byrd said. “We need the grace of confidence and courage because the world we live in today comes against us.”
Uniting our prayers for our priests helps them and us.
How to Pray for Priests
One of the most beloved saints, St. Therese of Lisieux, said part of her vocation was to pray for priests as “an apostle to the apostles.”
“I learned that, although their dignity raises them above the angels, they are nevertheless weak and fragile men. If holy priests, whom Jesus in His gospel calls “the salt of the earth,” show in their conduct their extreme need for prayers, what is to be said of those who are tepid? Didn’t Jesus say too: “If the salt loses its savor, wherewith will it be salted?” (Story of a Soul)
By joining the CCJC Prayer Cenacle, we can unite our prayers together like St. Therese and her Carmelite community.
The CCJC Prayer Cenacle requires only three main commitments.
- Daily recitation of the prayers in the Prayer Cenacle booklet.
- Daily recitation of the Angelus (6 a.m., noon, 6 p.m.) and at least 5 decades of the Holy Rosary. The intention of the Rosary can be for any intention.
- Some sort of daily penance, fasting, or mortification offered for our Holy Father, our bishop, our priests, and our seminarians. These need not be extreme. Small offerings are powerful and effective.
A Shower of Graces for Catholic priests
Father Byrd said now is the time to pray, especially with seven men from our parishes in seminary formation.
“Prayer is a source of grace and the mother of all virtues, you can call down showers of graces upon the priesthood,” Father Byrd wrote in The Prayer Cenacle booklet. “The Church and her priests need your prayers now more than ever, and here you’ll find your special calling from God that must be fulfilled for the salvation of souls.”
This calling for the laity and others to pray for priests was reiterated in the Year of the Priest .
“Despite all the evil present in our world, the words which Christ spoke to his Apostles in the Upper Room continue to inspire us: “In the world you have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). “Our faith in the Divine Master gives us the strength to look to the future with confidence,” Benedict said. “Dear priests, Christ is counting on you. In the footsteps of the Curé of Ars, let yourselves be enthralled by him. In this way you too will be, for the world in our time, heralds of hope, reconciliation and peace!”
Download your Prayer Cenacle booklet now to be part of this growing movement of praying for priests and seminarians.
