“O Jesus,
protect your priests
in the refuge of your Sacred Heart”
O Jesus, who hast instituted the priesthood to continue on earth the divine work of saving souls, protect Thy priests in the refuge of Thy SACRED HEART. Keep undefiled their CONSECRATED HANDS, which daily touch thy SACRED BODY, and preserve pure their lips dyed with Thy PRECIOUS BLOOD.
Preserve pure their Hearts, marked with the sublime seal of the PRIESTHOOD, and do not allow the spirit of the world to contaminate them. Increase the number of your apostles, and may your Divine Love protect them from all danger.
Bless their labors and fatigues, and as the fruit of their apostolate may they obtain the salvation of many souls who will be their consolation here on earth and their eternal crown in Heaven.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus
The example of the life of Alessandrina da Costa, beatified on April 25, 2004, impressively demonstrates the transforming power and visible effects of the sacrifice of a sick and abandoned young woman.
In 1941 Alessandrina wrote to her spiritual father, Father Mariano Pinho, that Jesus had addressed this plea to her: “My daughter, in Lisbon there lives a priest who runs the risk of condemning himself for eternity; he offends me in a grave way. Call your spiritual father and ask his permission for me to make you suffer during the Passion, especially for that soul”.
Having received permission, Alessandrina suffered greatly. She felt the weight of the sins of that priest who no longer wanted to know anything about God and was about to condemn herself. The poor girl experienced in her body the infernal state in which the priest found himself and she begged: “ Not to hell, no! I offer myself in holocaust for him until You will it! She even heard the priest's first and last name. Fr. Pinho then wanted to ask the Cardinal of Lisbon if at that time there was a priest who was causing him distress. The Cardinal confirmed with sincerity that there was indeed a priest who worried him; and when he revealed the name, it was precisely the same one that Jesus had named to Alessandrina.
A few months later a particular event was reported to Fr. Pinho by a fellow priest, Fr. Davide Novais. Fr. Davide had just completed a spiritual exercises retreat in Fatima, in which a reserved gentleman, who had been noted by all for his exemplary behavior, had also participated. That man, on the last evening of the exercises, suffered a heart attack; after calling a priest, he was able to go to confession and receive Holy Communion. Shortly afterwards he died, reconciled with God. It was discovered that the man, dressed as a layman, was a priest and was precisely the person for whom Alessandrina had fought so hard.
To make our fervor grow:
Testimony of the work that Verónica Torres does every month signing up women in Paraguay:
“The moms in Paraguay, who sign up for the 40 hours every month, never fail to give me an impressive example of confidence and perseverance. Why? Because there are many, many, more every month, and most of them pray four or five hours within those 40 hours. They have understood what Jesus says to each one of them: “pray, pray, pray more and with more strength, because, in this prayer, I rejoice to be intimate with you, to give you my graces, to see you united in one single and ardent heart, which I keep in mine with zealous passion”.
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When Jesus looks at me from the Blessed Sacrament, I feel that He is telling me: “I want to multiply Myself infinitely, until the end of time, to reach every soul, at every moment and to the ends of the earth, but I cannot, if I do not have priests. Time passes and some day it will end and with that will end the possibility of reaching souls, and, if I do not have priests who lovingly order Me every day to go down to the Host, or religious, My beloved spouses, who take My love and My Word to the whole world, even to the most remote places, holy priests, holy religious, who truly love Me, who do not disfigure My words nor My true Being, nor My Gospel, how do I reach those souls?”
And Jesus looks at Me again and says to Me: “You have the graces you need, you come to Me and you let Me come into you when you want, but what about those many, many souls who are waiting for Me? Those other souls, who are thirsty, but do not know what for? They are waiting for Me, but they do not know Me, because no one told them about Me.
I want souls who are at stake for Me, I want souls who ask for Me to the point of exhaustion, I want souls who understand the value of a priest, or a spouse of Mine, and who put in their supplication a heart on fire with the desire to save souls. Because, with each supplication, inflamed with that desire, I can arouse a vocation, or many… See what I tell you, with each supplication! And, if that supplication is multiplied by many and many and those many united with the same heart and in the same time, what could I not do for this world? How could I not raise vocations like the countless stars in the sky? Could I not hear that cry that rises up to Me? But, you see, I have left it up to them to ask Me for it, because in this way they remember Me, and they seek Me, and they care for Me, and I have so many desires to care for them, to embrace them, to give them what they ask of Me! And I am there, alone, in the Tabernacle, waiting. My Heart, burning furnace of love, is looking for hearts that want to be on fire with Me, to be burned with Me. The souls, the souls, the souls, if you give Me your heart and renew that gift every month, and if you give Me that heart united to many hearts that want to burn with Me for the salvation of souls, I know that I will be able to save them.
I will know how to be moved in such a way that I will have to pour out My graces, those graces that you ask of Me, a downpour of consecrated and holy souls, and holiness on those who have already consecrated themselves. I am waiting for you, I love you, trust in Me”.
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And, when a friend, after each mystery of the holy rosary, prays this ejaculatory:
“Lord give us priests,
Lord give us many priests,
Lord give us many and holy priests”.
And she prays it with passion, with urgent need, I realize that You want this Lord, that we pray to You with urgent need, united, strong, trusting, loving.
And, Our Lady, our loving Mother, waits with calm tenderness for those rosaries unfolded with love, to say to Him, as in the wedding at Cana: “They have no priests, they have no religious” And …. we already know what will follow ……