Father Mark reminds us of an excellent intention to keep before our eyes this Holy Season -- the holiness of men called to the priesthood:
In the First Lesson at Mass on Ash Wednesday (Joel 2:12-18), as well as in one of the magnificent Lenten responsories at Matins, the Prophet Joel emphasizes the role of the priests who serve in the temple, the ministers of the Lord. Taking their place as mediators between the porch and the altar, they represent sinful men before the Face of the All-Holy God, and the Mercy of God before sinful men. Theirs is, in effect, a mediatorship of intercession and reparation.
The word "altar" represents not only the place of sacrifice, but also the one offered upon it, and the fire from heaven that ratifies and consumes the oblation. Pope Pius XII writes, "The Church prolongs the priestly mission of Jesus Christ mainly by means of the sacred liturgy. She does this in the first place at the altar, where constantly the sacrifice of the cross is represented and with a single difference in the manner of its offering, renewed."
In this Year of the Priest, women -- as icons of Holy Mother Church -- can pray in a special way, a motherly way, for these men who are their spiritual sons, for example:
O Immaculate Queen of Heaven and Earth, refuge of sinners, and our most loving Mother, to whom God willed to entrust the entire order of mercy, grant to receive us as your property and possession, in body, mind, and soul, that we may become entirely yours, to do with as you please, wholly and completely yours, with our life, death, and eternity, so that we may become useful instruments in your Most Holy and Immaculate hands, in the work of giving birth to all those men, whom God has planned, from eternity, to be in service to Him at the Altar of God, in the Holy Roman Catholic Church, for the salvation of souls. Grant, O Holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary, that this work may be received by you, in total consecration, exempt from any influence and powers of evil. Protect us, O Most Loving Mother, and bring this work to the propagation of fruitfulness, so that God may be glorified, and Your Son Jesus adored. Amen
And remember Therese of Lisieux' great love for priests, as she prayed in her words:
O Jesus, Eternal Priest, keep your priests within the shelter of your Most Sacred Heart, where none can touch them. Keep unstained their anointed hands, which daily touch your Sacred Body. Keep unsullied their lips, daily tinged with your Precious Blood. Keep pure and unworldly their hearts, sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood. Let Your Holy Love surround and protect them from the world’s contagion. Bless their labors with abundant fruit, and may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation here, and their everlasting crown in the hereafter. Amen.
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