The Love of the Priesthood Novena
Daily Meditations
DAY 1
"A vocation is so very sacred that one does not like to speak of it… Always associated with that sense of the gift of a treasure was the frailty of the earthenware pot which was to house it. I would often drive it out of my mind, only to have it come back again. For the most part, the religious vocation is rather a silent but insistent whisper, yet one that demands a response; no violent shaking of bedposts or loud noises in the night. Just ‘you are called to be a priest.’" (Fulton J. Sheen, Treasure in Clay)
Lord, support all who are exploring a priestly vocation. May they, in humble awareness of being a simple earthen vessel, place their life joyfully at Your service: “Here I am, Lord; send me!” May they always know that in Your will is our peace.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 2
“In these days of conformism where the ideal of some religious and clergy is to be identified with the world, there is an increased incidence of psychic disorders. … The secret of peace is the negation of the ego so that Christ may reign. … No priest who understands his mission would ever say, ‘I gotta be me.’ Rather, ‘I must be His.’ The latter is not only better grammar; it is sounder theology.” (Fulton J. Sheen, Those Mysterious Priests)
Jesus, help Your priests imitate the example of John the Baptist, “He must increase; I must decrease.” Just as You are hidden in your priests, may they live hidden in You, visible to us as sings of Your grace.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 3
“We become real priests when we empty ourselves and no longer seek our own identity, and where we are lifted up to the cross, not going ‘down to people.’ Too many of us today feel we have to be loved . . . thinking the young will not love us unless we talk like them, eat like them, drink like them, clothe ourselves like them. No! They will not love us simply because we go down; they will love us when we lift them up. Else, the world will drag them down.” (Fulton J. Sheen, The Meaning of Being a Priest)
Jesus, Our Lord, assist your priests in seeking first the kingdom of Your Father and His righteousness, grasping clearly what is essential and what is not. Through their life of virtue, may many other good things be given us besides.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 4
“The priesthood is the greatest fraternity in the world. No introduction is necessary to another priest; there is nothing to live up to; nothing to live down. The mere fact that he is a priest means that he is a brother. Being made a bishop of a diocese binds one with the cords of grace and the cords of Adam to every priest and religious, and to each of the laity. Nothing better symbolizes this than the fact that the name of the diocesan bishop is mentioned every single day at Mass.” (Fulton J. Sheen, Treasure In Clay)
Jesus, Our great High Priest, remember the newly ordained and those already serving. May their priestly promises to the bishop imitate Your perfect love and obedience to Your Father, always ready to do His will.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 5
“The priest is called to be a sin-bearer, as Christ was. Victimhood means that we feel the guilt and sin of the world as if it were our own, and by constant union with Christ, seek to reconcile all mankind to Him. Love means identification with others–not only with the sheepfold, but also those who are not in it.” (Fulton J. Sheen, Those Mysterious Priests)
Lord Jesus, Your servant Fulton Sheen said that “the Holy Hour is not a devotion; it is a sharing in the work of redemption” and “an hour of reparation to combat the hour of evil.” May all who are willing to share in Your victimhood, suffering, and cross share also in the abundant fruits of Your victory in many souls freed from sin.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 6
“The teacher who practices what he or she preaches will influence students more than a mouthers of textbooks. The listener to unvirtuous teachers may well say: ‘I cannot hear what you say because I see the way you live.’ The correlation between the way I preach and the way I live is intimate. … Credibility and behavior are twins.” (Fulton J. Sheen, Those Mysterious Priests)
Lord, help Your priests become chosen instruments of Your divine grace. May their faith show that You are their Savior, and their works prove that You are their Lord.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 7
“I preached three retreats to Protestant ministers… I asked them to make a continuous Holy Hour of prayer in order to combat the forces of evil in the world, because that is what our Lord asked for the night of His Agony. I addressed them: ‘You are not blessed with the same Divine Presence in your churches that I believe we possess. …You could make the Hour before the Scriptures.’ Many came to me later to inquire about the Eucharist, some even asked to join with me in a Holy Hour before the Eucharist. (Fulton J. Sheen, Treasure in Clay)
Jesus, You did not ask Your Apostles for an hour of activity, but for an hour of companionship in Your agony. May Your priests, gazing at Your Eucharistic Face during a Holy Hour, be transformed—according to Your Heart.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 8
“If anyone wishes to be a follower of Mine, he must leave self behind; he must take up his cross and come with Me’ (Matthew 16:24). But the cross is no self-mutilation or masochism. It is plucking off of dead buds that the new buds may blossom; it is pruning of a tree for a rich harvest; it is the dull rehearsal for the triumph of a concert. God is not the God of dead things, but of renewed things. He does not change the Ideal to fit the way men live; but He changes the way men live to give them the Ideal.” (Fulton J. Sheen, Those Mysterious Priests)
Lord Jesus, may the firm hope of rich produce and new wine surpass the pain of pruning. Let us then taste and see how good and worthy Your Ideal is!
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
DAY 9
“No priest begets a vocation or makes a convert or sanctifies a soul except under the shadow of the Cross. … Do we have confidence in our power to excite vocations? When we place our hand on a head of a boy who gives spiritual promise and say, ‘Someday you will be a priest’, do we believe Our Lord will support our judgment and our blessing?... But there is such a thing as priestly strengthening of the vocation in the soul. As Our Lord prayed to His Father, so must we pray confidently to the Lord.” (Fulton J. Sheen, The Priest Is Not His Own)
Divine Master, send Your Holy Spirit to renew in your priests their love for You. Clothe them with humility and joy that would attract many young hearts to serve You, belonging to You and You alone.
Prayer for Canonization, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be