Real Men Make Sacrifices and Fall Down On Their Knees!

Eucharistic Reflections - Holy Thursday - I Want My Priests and My People Close to Me to Console Me

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Holy Thursday should be among the most treasured days in our Church as we commemorate and give thanks for the Gift of the Eucharist and the Priesthood.

It must be an occasion for the spiritual re-invigoration of our priests and of all whom they serve.

God is quite clear as to what He expects from His priests! - to make the Eucharist the center of all that they do - all that they do.  This begins and is sustained only by spending time in His Eucharistic Presence, adoring Him, listening to Him and allowing Him to complete their priestly transformation into other Christs,

His expectations and pleadings have not changed over the centuries.  Sadly, He still awaits a universal and affirmative response from many of His priests.

Thank God that through the following two reflections, Father Mark at Vultus Christi has the courage to share those expectations with his brother priests and with us. 

Here are two brief excerpts from each of Father's posts and the links to where you can read them in their entirety.

After pondering these stirring words, will you love your priests enough to get copies of these reflections into their "sacred and venerable" hands? Will you too make the Eucharist the center of all that you do? Will you also come into His Presence? Will you pray unceasingly for the sanctification of our priests?

[Image source: Wikimedia Commons]

Christ’s First Mandate to His Priests - Watch and Prayer With Me

"...I wanted them to understand by this that unless a priest keeps watch and perseveres in prayer, all else will be in vain.He will dispense the substance of My mysteries, but without the sweetness of a heavenly unction, without the fire and light of a personal experience of My Divine Friendship. This is why I beg My priests to become adorers:to begin to keep watch and pray close to Me in he Sacrament of My Love. [Read full post here.]

 

The Night of My Agony and Betrayal 

"The renewal of My priesthood in the Church will begin from the fire of love that blazes in the Sacrament of My Body and Blood. I call all priests to seek My Eucharistic Face and to abide in My presence. I want all My priests to discover My open Heart, My living Heart beating with Love for them,and pouring forth a purifying stream of Blood and of Water for their holiness, and for the life of the world. I summon all My priests into My Eucharistic presence.They must learn that in My company is the fullness of joy. They must discover in the Sacrament of My Love the sweetness and strength of My Divine Friendship...." [Click to read in its entirety.]

Our Lady of the Rosary, Adoration and My Friend Mike

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Today we celebrate the memorial of our Lady of the Rosary, instituted by Pope Pius V. He attributed the naval victory over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 to the Blessed Mother's intercession after the Christian world sought her aid through the Rosary. The Nashville Dominicans provide an interesting summary of this miraculous event and of Pius V. I encourage you to read their article here.

As a Lay Dominican, I have come to treasure the rosary, contemplating the richness of its mysteries every day.

But I also have a fondness for this particular memorial beyond my love of the rosary. You will understand why after reading about my friend Mike. The article that follows is one of twenty stories from my book, Fleeting Glimpses of the Silly, Sentimental and Sublime: