Icon of Christ the eternal high priest

We can sometimes take our priests for granted, or even complain about them. In this meditation we look at what our priests do for us and how we can help them. We consider:

• Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest, instituted the priesthood to continue his priestly ministry down the ages
• Priests do so much for us: celebrating the sacrifice of the Mass in order to offer this pure sacrifice to the Father, to leave Christ in the tabernacle and give him to us in holy Communion; forgiving our sins, anointing us when we are in danger of death, teaching us the faith…
• St John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, has beautiful things to say about the priesthood
• St John Paul II wrote wonderfully about what people expect from priests
• We should give thanks for our priests and pray for them so that they will be holy and faithful
• We should pray too for seminarians, for young men considering a priestly vocation and for families, the seedbed of vocations