My prayer rises to You, Lord: keep them, protect them, for they belong to You, Your priests who have offered their lives at Your altar. Keep them, for they are in the world carrying Your Gospel, but they are not of the world, for they are Yours alone.
If the winds of temptation blow through their hearts, give them the tenderness of Your Heart; be their companion in the hour of loneliness, and comfort them in the hour of ingratitude.
In times of weariness be their rest, in discouragement be their hope, in sorrow be their comfort. Always be their helping companion. Keep them, for they have no faithful and eternal friend but You. Keep them as pure as the Host their hands lift up,
as spotless as the chalice of salvation they raise for the salvation of the world. Protect them, Lord, and sanctify them; and grant that we may love them despite their shortcomings, pray for them in their failings and not criticize them in their sins.
They are Your priests; they are our brothers. We lift them up to You so that You may sanctify and bless them, that they may be zealous labourers in Your field for the salvation of souls and the holiness of the world. Amen.
Let us make this one of our daily prayers and help build up our Church. Amen.
Prayer for Priests
