QUESTIONS OF FAITH

In this month’s issue of Bayou Catholic magazine, we’re reading a lot about the beauty of the call to priesthood, and the call to service that it entails. Our priests lay down their lives in service to the church and its people. Acknowledging their care for our souls and their fervor for the sacraments we, the people of God whom they serve, of course want to give back to them. But beyond the occasional gumbo or casserole, how can we truly and consistently care for our priests as they care for us?

As a consecrated virgin, one of the ways in which I identified my call to this vocation was in the deep desire I felt to pray for the protection of our diocesan clergy. In living out this aspect of my vocation, I’ve put together regular habits of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that anyone can do in order to pick up this charitable work.

WITH REGARDS TO PRAYER:

Pray for vocations and pray for your priests regularly. As someone who has promised to pray the Liturgy of the Hours daily, I offer up one hour for the bishops whom I serve; one hour for all of the clergy and seminarians that I know, particularly those in my diocese; and one hour for special intentions, which are often intentions given to me by priests, or for those priests struggling with illness. One of my favorite prayers that I say after morning prayer is one credited to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

WITH REGARDS TO FASTING AND PENANCE:

Try offering up your fasting (by which we mean fasting from food, traditionally practiced on Wednesdays and/or Fridays) and your abstinence from meat on Fridays for priests and make little penances for them daily as well. Leave the sweetener out of your coffee one day; do an extra rep or two in your workout on another; turn off the radio on your way to work on another (you can pair this penance with adding prayer time, like the rosary, while you drive). Think of the priest, deacon or seminarian that you want to offer it for in particular: Maybe it’s your pastor or deacon, maybe it’s the newest seminarians to the diocese. Offer up your fasting and penance to the Lord as a gift for your sanctification and theirs.

WITH REGARDS TO ALMSGIVING:

Consider donating particularly to those ministries that help to form priests, like your diocesan Vocations Office; the Institute for Priestly Formation; Saint Joseph Seminary College and Notre Dame Seminary. Another option is to donate to projects like the Annual Bishop’s Appeal, which supports not only our seminarians but also our retired priests as well, many of whom still continue to serve in a variety of ways.

If we want to support our priests, if we want them to grow in holiness, and if we want new men to answer the call to the priesthood, we as the people of God must take up the charge of prayer, fasting and almsgiving on their behalf. They are our fathers, brothers and sons; they will always need our support and our love, in whatever way we can offer it. And the beauty of our offerings is that as we give them to God on behalf of the priesthood, we ourselves are also made holier, and capable of greater and greater acts of love for them and for the world.

(Jennifer Ely, M.A.T.S., is a consecrated virgin in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, currently working for the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Vocations Office. She is beginning classes for her license/ doctorate in sacred theology.)