To my beloved Parish Priests

Many people forget or even neglect to pray for their priests. I remember one occasion in Singapore when I asked a parishioner to pray for me (I was then a seminarian) and she said, "Oh no, I can't. You should pray for me."! This mistaken sense of inadequacy sometimes leads to people forgetting to pray for their priests, religious and seminarians, which is a tremendous shame. In my experience these are the very people most in need of our prayers.

There is such a wonderful sense of being supported when we pray for one another. Today, the Feast of St Jean Marie Vianney, patron of parish priests, I wish to pray especially for the parish priests I have known who have supported and inspired me so much in my vocation: Fr Peter Dawber of the Diocese of Leeds, England and Fr Allan V Lopez OP of the parish of San Lorenzo Ruiz, Dagat-dagatan, the Philippines. They both labour faithfully and untiringly in the vineyard of the Lord; to them I offer my thanks, my profound respect and tribute, for they each in their gentle, pastoral and loving ways have helped my own Christian and priestly vocation to grow.

Thus, I implore the intercession of St Jean Vianney, the Cure of Ars for them and for all priests who have the care of souls. And I pray that Mary Immaculate may hold them close to herself and lead them to Jesus in whose icon they are ordained. May the Holy Spirit inspire them with prudent ministry and inflame them with zeal for souls, that God's Holy Church, particularly in the parishes placed in their care, may grow in holiness and grace and be a veritable sacrament of salvation for the world.

Amen.

In this Year of the Eucharist, perhaps we may end by recalling some of the Cure's meditations on the Blessed Sacrament and the Adoration that is Its due:

"The many wonders of creation can only fill us with astonishment and admiration. But when we speak of the most holy Eucharist we can say that here is to be found the miracle of divine love for us.... Has there been, or will there ever be, a nobler or more magnanimous love than that which He has shown us in the sacrament of love?"

"The soul hungers for God, and nothing but God can satiate it. Therefore He came to dwell on earth and assumed a Body in order that this Body might become the Food of our souls..."

"When we are before the Blessed Sacrament, instead of looking about us, let us shut our eyes and open our hearts; and the good God will open his. We will go to him, and he will come to us, the one to give, and the other to receive. It will be like a breath passing from one to the other. What delight we find in forgetting ourselves that we may seek God!"