Forty Hour Devotion for Priests of the Diocese of Rockford

“The priest is a gift of the Heart of Christ; a gift for the Church and for the world.”  ~ Pope Benedict XVI

August 4th is the Feast of St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests. In the Diocese of Rockford, we are all invited to take place in the 40 Hours of Prayer for our Priests, beginning the morning of August 4th at 7:00 AM, concluding at 11:00 PM on August 5th.

Visit www.rockforddiocese.org/fortyhours/ for more information and to sign up for a Holy Hour!

Additionally, Masses will be offered for our priests on Saturday, August 4, at
7:00 AM at St. Bridget Church and 8:30 AM at Holy Family Church in Rockford.

Thank you for praying for our priests!

O Jesus,
I pray for Your faithful and fervent priests;
for Your unfaithful and tepid priests;
for Your priests labouring at home
or abroad in distant mission fields;
for Your tempted priests;
for Your lonely and desolate priest;
for Your young priests;
for Your dying priests;
for the souls of Your priests in purgatory.

But above all I recommend to You the priests dearest to me;
the priest who baptized me;
the priests who absolved me from my sins;
the priests at whose Masses I assisted
and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy communion;
the priests who taught and instructed me;
all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way.
O Jesus, keep them all close to Your heart,
and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.

Amen.

Prayer for Priests by St. Therese of Lisieux