PRAYING FOR YOU...

My Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Ever since I was ordained, I have kept a small card in the front of my breviary with the names of people for whom I have promised to pray. Every few weeks I change the card, often changing the prayer of petition to a thanksgiving to God for his mercy.

I often tell the seminarians who I am privileged to teach that praying for the people of God is the Priest’s greatest privilege and most solemn responsibility. When, almost thirty years ago, I stood before Bishop Flanagan at my ordination, he asked me: “Do you resolve to implore with us God's mercy upon the people entrusted to your care by observing the command to pray without ceasing?” I responded, “I do.” Such is the promise and pledge of every Priest: to carry in his heart the people entrusted to his care before the throne of God’s grace.

It’s an easy work and a perfect joy. No one but a Priest witnesses the joys and the sorrows of peoples’ lives from such a privileged and sacred vantage point. Knowing his own weaknesses and his own desperate need for God’s grace, the Priest is chosen from among the people to offer sacrifice on their behalf “for our good and the good of all his Holy Church.”

I still think that the most challenging words ever offered by the Servant of God, John Paul II were spoken to group of Bishops from the Northwestern part of the United States at the conclusion of their visit ad limina apostolorum. In his remarks, the Holy Father insisted that “prayer for the needs of the Church and the individual faithful is so important that serious thought should be given to reorganizing priestly and parish life to ensure that priests have time to devote to this essential task, individually and in common. Liturgical and personal prayer, not the tasks of management, must define the rhythms of a priest’s life, even in the busiest of parishes.”

That’s quite a challenge amidst the many administrative challenges which make demands on a Priest’s time every day. But it is no more of a challenge than those which face a mother or father when they try to find the time to pray for their children, or the challenges of a busy professional or mother with four little ones screaming while they look for the quiet time to read the Bible or pray the Rosary.

Yet despite the demands, my friends, there is no more important work than prayer. To sit at the Master’s feet and seek his will for us, to tell him of the needs which weigh down our hearts, and to thank him for his abundant blessings: this is as close to the purpose of life as we are every likely to get!

May God make your prayer rich and full and beautiful. This is one of my many prayers for you!

Monsignor James P. Moroney

Rector