Editor’s Note: To our heavenly Father and our earthly fathers: Dads, Grandpas, Godfathers, Foster Fathers and
Stepfathers a very Happy Father’s Day…and a special Father’s Day greeting to all our priests, all our spiritual fathers, from all of us here at spiritualdirection.com. We offer you this beautiful reflection from the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. Today, when you pray for your fathers, living or deceased, please be sure to include all our priests in your prayers…oh, and thank them, too!
Bless Our Priests
In our Constitutions,* the first and second articles state the name and purpose of our community. The third states that “praying for priests is of primary importance” to our religious family. As Carmelites, it is our great joy and our awesome responsibility to pray for priests, but you don’t have to be Carmelite to join us!
We pray for the men and women who serve in our military for a good reason, we need to pray for our priests too. Our priests serve on the front lines of a spiritual battle which is daily growing more intense and fierce. The enemy knows that…the fastest way to divide and scatter the flock is to strike the shepherd…may our hearts be moved with grateful prayer for all the priests who have given us life through the Sacraments, priests who have taught us, served us, and saved us from untold danger and peril by standing with Christ between us and the enemy of our soul.
Our friend Chris Stefanick put together this video to remind us of the great gift we have in our priests…
Join us in praying for priests! “Bless Our Priests” from our album Lean into the Wind.
*Constitutions: The fundamental rule of life of a religious institute, containing the principles of religious life in general and as understood by a particular community, together with the basic norms by which the members are to put these principles into practice (definition from Servant of God Father John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary at www.therealpresence.org).
Originally published by the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. Used with permission, all rights reserved.
Art: Detail from Heiliger Josef mit Jesukind und Batist dem Täufer (Saint Joseph and Jesus with John the Baptist), Melchior-Paul von Deschwanden (1811-1881), date unknown, photo by Wolfgang Moroder 23 November 2012, CCA-SA, Wikimedia Commons.
