Prayer for a Priest

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May you continue to grow in union with Christ through prayer and intimacy so that you become Christ to your people.

May you be close to the people you serve so as to be “shepherds living with the ‘smell of the sheep’”

May your authority be linked to service, especially to the care and protection of the poorest, weakest, the least important and most easily forgotten.

May you never tire in faithfully dispensing God's mercy, both sacramentally and in your daily living.

May you live a simple life and examine the sincerity and authenticity of your own spiritual poverty.

May you be a model of integrity, to understand that your authority derives not from worldly power but from personal integrity and humility in imitation of Christ. 

May you be a source of blessing for your people and may they sense that you are the Lord’s disciple; and may God the Father renew in you the Spirit of holiness with whom you have been anointed. May he renew his spirit in your heart so that this anointing may spread to everyone.