Priesthood

Alter-christus-imitamini-quod Cardinal Burke

Benedict XVI
following him in his gift of himself to the Church -homily to cardinals, 2010
Community
Mission
Vocation, priesthood
A man converted and renewed by the Spirit
Letter to seminarians, 2010
Letter to priest, year of priests

Piacenza, Card.
Crisis of priesthood interview

Fr. Mark Kirby
The Secret of Priestly Holiness
The Lord will Sanctify priests
The Despairing priest

Why not a priest vocations promo
What is a priest -Catherine Doherty
New order of priests. Jesus speaks to Ven. Conchita.
To my priests Jesus to Conchita for priests
Garabandal and priests

Related sites
clerus.org Cong. clergy
madonnahouse -prog. for priests

What the faithful expect from a priest is the example of authentic devotion to the Eucharist. They like to see him spend long periods of silence and adoration before Jesus, as did the saintly 'Cure of Ars' whom we will especially recall during the imminent Year for Priests" -Benedict XVI, Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, June 11, 2009.

Let us ask Mary for a heart that is able to relive Christ's coming in our lives, a heart able to contemplate the way in which the Son of God, on the day of our Ordination, radically and definitely marked our entire existence immerging us in His priestly heart. He renews us daily in the Eucharistic Celebration so that our own lives become transfigured into Christ's coming for humanity. -Card. Piacenza 11/28/11

PRIESTS
A call to be on fire with the love of the cross -Fr. Jordi Rivero

See: Missionaries of the Cross Priest Fraternity

My dear brother priests

The Lord wishes to raise an army of holy priests to be His presence in the world. Behold Christ on the Cross! Behold His passionate love for the Father and for us! This love is salvation. The Lord wants priests today to be on fire with this love. He wants to possess us so perfectly that we can say with St. Paul: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -Galatians 2, 20

This is not just an idea. The Lord wants to do just that transformation in every priest and through them hasten a new Pentecost.

Jesus prayed: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!" Luke 12:49-50.

At the 2008 Priest conference at Franciscan Univ. priests were before the Blessed Sacrament praising and singing loudly: "Come Holy Spirit, let the fire fall!" As they repeated this verse, suddenly all were brought to silence as only God can do. Then the Lord spoke powerfully through a priest and said: "You are asking me for the fire of my Spirit, but I ask you, where is the victim?" I was convicted!

Most priests want success in their ministry and realize that this is only possible by the power of the Spirit. But then, in practice, we revert to a man centered view of reality. We do not give enough time to be with the Blessed Sacrament each day. We do not allow the Holy Spirit full reign of our lives and so we do not abandon ourselves to the Father as victims with the Christ the Victim of love.

We need to recognize how much we are in control, not allowing God to really guide us in certain areas. Our minds and thus our lives are more influenced by the culture than we realize. We need to repent and give our lives to the Lord as we promised in our ordination. The Holy Father has been calling us with increasing urgency to recognize the signs of the times and to turn to the power of the cross >>>.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" 1 Corinthians 1:18.

My lay brothers and sisters in community (Love Crucified) pray and sacrifice for you and for all priests, that the Lord may raise holy priests filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, priests who offer their lives to God as victims with the Victim.

Perhaps the call to be a victim of love frightens us. We need to ask the Holy Spirit for the transformation of our hearts and mind to be able to appreciate that Jesus wants to draw us to His heart and make us one with Him. Then we will understand what St. John M. Vianney said:

"Oh! How great is the Priesthood! It can be properly understood only in Heaven... if one were to understand it on this earth one would die, not of fright but of love!" (Abbé Monnin, Esprit du Curé d'Ars, p. 113)

"For in the end, God is the only richness that men wish to find in a priest" (Benedict XVI, address to Cong. for Clergy).

-Fr. Jordi Rivero

Wake up call to priests -Ven. Conchita

Missionaries of the Cross
Fraternity of priest-victims in Christ.

Contact: Fr. Jordi Rivero

The fraternity is for priests who, while remaining in their present canonical status desire to join spiritually to seek union with Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and the spirituality of the cross. The fraternity is inspired by Christ´s messages to priests given through Ven. Concepción Cabrera and supported by the constant intercession of the Love Crucified Community and the spiritual mothers for priests.

Our way of life

Holy Mass is our life. Celebrate it daily with deep reverence.

Adore the Eucharist daily for an hour.

Holy Spirit. Seek renewal with docility and trust.

Word of God. Ponder, live and preach it fully with power of H.S.

Pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

Obedience. Vow faithful obedience to the magisterium, the Holy Father and our bishops.

Love, humility, purity and sacrifice.

Victim souls, embracing the cross daily with love to become one with Jesus Love Crucified.

Participate in the fraternity and spiritual support of brother priests.

Marian. Consecrate to the Blessed Mother so that she can radiate her presence through our behavior and teaching.

Receive a spiritual mother who prays and sacrifices for us and pray for spiritual mothers

More on the above

-Love the Lord with our whole being.
Jesus called his disciples first to be with him and then to go preach. Mark 3,14: "And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach". The Lord wants us to know and love him intimately. Men who spend ample time every day in personal prayer.

-Eucharist
Pope Benedict XVI's Letter to Priests, Year of the Priesthood, 2009: "Educating the faithful to the Eucharistic presence and to communion proved most effective when they saw him (St. J.M. Vianney) celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Those present said that 'it was not possible to find a finer example of worship. ... He gazed upon the Host with immense love'. 'All good works, taken together, do not equal the sacrifice of the Mass' - he would say - 'since they are human works, while the Holy Mass is the work of God'. He was convinced that the fervour of a priest's life depended entirely upon the Mass: 'The reason why a priest is lax is that he does not pay attention to the Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if he were engaged in something routine!'

-Holy Spirit; docile to His life within us.
Formation in the truth in humble docility to the mysteries of the faith.
-Imitating Mary who believed and kept all in her heart.
-Believe like Francisco and Jacinta of Fatima, with simplicity, passion and courage.
-Attentive to Holy Father's teaching
-"Maintain the Truth Lovingly and always Love Truthfully" -Pope John Paul II

-Poor, celibate and obedient.
We embrace these with our whole heart, in union with Christ, as gifts from God to be lived to their fullest mystical meaning.

Poor: Free from attachments. We are only administrators, not owners, of what God puts in our hands.

Obedient: Faithful obedience to the magisterium and our superiors.

Celibate: Celibacy is a gift from God who calls us to be configured into Christ. It is also a radical offering of self as victims of love in Christ. See: Celibate

-Preaching
Preaching should be a fruit of a deep union with the Eucharistic Lord which we nourish with our way of life. Thus we allow the Spirit to speak through us.

"Where Christ is preached with the power of the Holy Spirit and He is accepted with an open soul, society, though it be full of problems, becomes a "city of joy". —Benedict XVI, Homily during ordination of 29 priests; April 29, 2008; ZENIT

-Victims
A Priest is priest and victim, full of his passionate love.

Slaves of love for Christ >> -Benedict XVI

"(S. John M. Vianney) was accustomed, when celebrating, also to offer his own life in sacrifice. He said: 'What a good thing it is for a priest each morning to offer himself to God in sacrifice!'" -From Pope Benedict XVI's Letter to Priests, in honour of the Year of the Priesthood, 2009

"It is He alone and His cross that should be sought in running after these people; for if you strive for anything else, you will gain naught but bodily and spiritual affliction. But having found Jesus Christ in His cross, you have found the roses in the thorns, sweetness in bitterness, everything in nothing." -Missionary martyr St. John de Brebeuf wrote his instructions to the young French missionaries coming to North America to serve the Indians.

Pope Paul VI on Padre Pio: "Look what fame he had! What a worldwide following gathered around him! But why. Perhaps because he was a philosopher? Because he was wise? Because he had resources at his disposal?
Because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from morning to night... He was a man of prayer and suffering" Paul VI, Rome, February 20, 1971. Wall plaque next to his old grave

Pope Benedict XVI's Letter to Priests, Year of the Priesthood, 2009: "This deep personal identification with the Sacrifice of the Cross led him (S. John M. Vianney) - by a sole inward movement - from the altar to the confessional. Priests ought never to be resigned to empty confessionals or the apparent indifference of the faithful to this Sacrament. In France, at the time of the Cure of Ars, confession was no more easy or frequent than in our own day, since the upheaval caused by the revolution had long inhibited the practice of religion. Yet he sought in every way, by his preaching and his powers of persuasion, to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of the Sacrament of Penance, presenting it as an inherent demand of the Eucharistic presence. He thus created a "virtuous" circle. By spending long hours in church before the tabernacle, he inspired the faithful to imitate him by coming to visit Jesus with the knowledge that their parish priest would be there, ready to listen and offer forgiveness. Later, the growing numbers of penitents from all over France would keep him in the confessional for up to sixteen hours a day. It was said that Ars had become "a great hospital of souls". His first biographer relates that "the grace he obtained [for the conversion of sinners] was so powerful that it would pursue them, not leaving them a moment of peace!". The saintly Cure reflected something of the same idea when he said: "It is not the sinner who returns to God to beg his forgiveness, but God Himself who runs after the sinner and makes him return to Him". "This good Saviour is so filled with love that He seeks us everywhere".