New Priests in Focus for the Week

Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus.

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Marian Szablewski CR, Fr D Thoroughgood, Fr Minton

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

iphones and Praying for Priests

Since changing over my mobile to an iphone, I have discovered many wonderful Catholic apps that have been a very solid support to me in my daily prayer life.

As a very busy Catholic homeschooling mother of six who has alot of difficulty remembering many things, the Calendar app (using alarms) has been my support in reminding me to stop for the angelus, divine mercy hour, things that I constantly forgot previously.

In my notebook app, I now keep records of all my current novenas and who I am praying for. Also, the intentions offered at Mass are now listed. My memory had gotten so bad that I would have to say in Mass, "Lord, remember all those I ought to be praying for and who I have promised to pray for, you know who they are." Though I felt God would understand, I really would have liked to have remembered ALL I promised to pray for.

I even have a note which I change weekly, called, "Priests in Focus" ~ there I write the names of the three priests I remember that week in particular in my different prayers for priests. I need this, otherwise I forget!

So I say again, it has been a real support for this weak head of mine and highly recommend this modern piece of technology for these good purposes.

ipieta iphone symbol

So what is my favourite Catholic app?

ipieta ~ the best by far. It is not expensive, $2.99 US and for that you receive the following:

Sacred Scripture ~ the whole Bible, old and new testament.

Calendar ~ Novus Ordo and when you click on an individual day, it gives you the Gospel reading.

Prayers ~ The most comprensive list of orthodox, traditional prayers ~ they are placed under subheadings (21) and you can click on a subheading, for eg: IHS Mass ~ this will take you to the prayers for the Mass, ones like St Ambrose's prayer before Mass. Each subheading has a lovely list of prayers, so many of my old favourites and so I am able to use this section alone for my morning and evening prayers.

Doctrine/Spirituality ~ This section is set out with subheadings:

~Saints: This has a list of the saints and a biography of their lives using many orthodox sources such as Butler's Lives of the Saints.

~Q&A Catechisms: The Baltimore Catechisms.

~Spirituality: This containts many of the great Catholic classics: Introduction to the Devote Life, Imitation of Christ, True Devotion, The Dialogue, Story of a Soul, Confession of St Patrick, Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius and more.

~Doctrine: St Thomas' Catechism and the Roman Catechism.

~ Ecumenical Councils: Councils Before Trent, Trent, Vatican I & II

~Summa Thologica: This subheading dedicated to St Thomas' books.

~ Papal: The encyclicals from Gregory XVI up until our current Holy Father.

~ Bible Commentaries: Haydock Bible Commentary, Catena Aurea: Matthew, Catena Aurea: Mark.

Settings ~ Where you can bookmark and other great features supporting you in getting the most out of this application.

ipieta opening image

This morning when I went to my iphone I discovered I had some updates for a few apps, one of them was for the ipieta. To my great delight I discovered that they had put in a new subheading in the prayers section, "For the Pope, Priests & Vocations" ~ previously it had only a couple of prayers for priests.

So under this new subheading there are 18 prayers. Below I have added them here.

Prayer for the Pope by Pope Leo XIII

Prayers for the Holy Father ~ Especially to be said after the Holy Rosary

(having trouble linking this one, but it comes from the Roman Missal)

Prayer for the Pope (in this link the prayer is in bold)

The Way of The Cross for Priests

Litany of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim

Prayer for Priests by St Catherine of Siena

Prayer for Priests by St Therese of the Child Jesus

Prayer for Priests by St Therese of the Child Jesus 2

Prayer for Priests by St Therese of the Child Jesus 3

Prayer for Priests by St Charles Borromeo

Prayer for Priests

A Parish Priest's Prayer to Mary Most Holy (Congregation of the Clergy, 2002)

Daily Prayer for Priests (by Cardinal Cushing)

The Beautiful Hands of a Priest

Thanksgiving and Intercession for Priests

Consecration of Priests to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (the 9th prayer down on this link)

Prayer to the Virgin Mary for Priests by Pope John Paul II

Prayer for Laborers for the Harvest by Pope John Paul II

New Priests in Focus for the Week

Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus.

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Krzysztof Gazdowicz, Fr Peter Austin PP, Fr J Zuhlsdorf

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

Eliza Vaughan

It is a fact that vocations to the priesthood must be prayed for; Jesus speaks about it himself in the Gospel:

“The harvest is abundant, but the labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest” (Mt. 9:37-38).

Eliza Vaughan, an English family mother, is a particularly encouraging example of a woman with a priestly spirit who prayed very much for vocations.

The Courtfield "Our Lady of Vocations" Chapel

The mother of six priests and four religious sisters, her prayer was bountifully heard. Mother Vaughan died in 1853 and was buried in the grounds of her beloved family property, Courtfield.

Today, Courtfield is a retreat center for different groups in the Welsh diocese of Cardiff. In consideration of Eliza’s holy life, the family chapel was consecrated as the shrine of “Our Lady of Vocations” by the bishop in 1954 and confirmed as such in the year 2000.

Let us give our children to God

Eliza came from a strong Protestant family, that of Rolls-Royce. Yet even during her childhood education in France, she was deeply impressed by the exemplary efforts the Catholic Church made for the poor. After she married Colonel John Francis Vaughan in the summer of 1830, Eliza converted to the Catholic Faith, despite the objection of her relatives. During the time of the Catholic persecution in England under Queen Elisabeth I (1558-1603), the Vaughan’s ancestors preferred imprisonment and expropriation to being unfaithful to their beliefs.

An old drawing of Courtfield.

Courtfield as it stands today.

Courtfield, the ancestral family home, became a place of refuge for priests during the decades of terror in England, a place where the Holy Mass was often celebrated secretly. Nearly three centuries had now passed, but the Catholic beliefs of the family had not changed. Eliza was someone who converted with all her heart, so much so, that in her religious enthusiasm, she even proposed to her husband that they offer all their children back to God.

The bell tower of Our Lady of Vocations Chapel.

This remarkable woman made a habit of praying for an hour each day before the Blessed Sacrament in the house chapel at Courtfield. She prayed to God for a large family and for many religious vocations among her children. And her prayers were heard! She gave life to 14 children and died shortly after the birth of the last child, John, in 1853.

Fr Bernard Vaughan ~ a Jesuit priest who travelled the world extensively, preaching. Here is his biography.

Of the 13 children that lived, six of her eight boys became priests: two priests in religious orders, one diocesan priest, a bishop, an archbishop and a cardinal. From the five daughters, four became nuns in religious orders.

Cardinal Herbert Alfred Vaughan, see below for more about this holy man.

What a blessing for the family and what an impact on all of England! The Vaughan children enjoyed a pleasant childhood because their virtuous mother knew how to educate them in a very natural way by uniting spiritual and religious obligationds with amusement and cheerfulness.

Herbert Alfred Vaughan ~ Cardinal and Archbishop of Westminster. Here is his biography.

Cardinal Vaughan's tomb.

Thanks to their mother, prayer and daily Mass in the house chapel were just as much a part of everyday life as music, athletics, amateur theatre, horse riding and playing.

It was never boring for the children when their mother told them stories from the lives of the saints, who little by little became their dearest friends. Mother Vaughan happily let her children accompany her on visits to the sick and needy of the area.

On such occasions, they learned how to be generous, to make sacrifices and to give away their savings or their toys. Shortly after the birth of her 14th child, Eliza died.

Roger William Bede Vaughan ~ This saintly Archbishop left a strong and holy legacy in our country of Australia, as the Archbishop of Sydney and responsible for the construction of St Mary's Cathedral. Here is his biography.

Two months after her death, Colonel Vaughan wrote in a letter that he was convinced divine providence brought Eliza to him.

“I thanked the Lord in adoration today that I could give back to him my dearly beloved wife. I poured out my heart to him, full of thankfulness that, as an example and a guide, he gave me Eliza with whom I am still now bound by an inseparable, spiritual bond. What wonderful consolation and grace she brought me! I still see her as I always saw her before the Blessed Sacrament: her inner purity and extraordinary human kindness which her beautiful face reflected during prayer.”

First Sunday Reminder

One of the special inititives of this blog is to encourage mothers throughout the world to pray for vocations within their families in a similar way that the Mothers of Lu had many years before.

For those ladies who do not have any children, praying specifically for young relatives or for vocations from your parish or diocese would be very fitting.

To read the story of the Mothers of Lu published in the Adoration, Reparation and Spiritual Mother for Priests booklet, visit our posting, In Imitation of the Mother's of Lu.

The mothers in the small Italian town of Lu prayed for vocations in this way:

"Under the direction of their parish priest, Msgr. Alessandro Canora, they gathered every Tuesday for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, asking the Lord for vocations. They received Holy Communion on the first Sunday of every month with the same intention. After Mass, all the mothers prayed a particular prayer together imploring for vocations to the priesthood.

Through the trusting prayer of these mothers and the openness of the other parents, an atmosphere of deep joy and Christian piety developed in the families, making it much easier for the children to recognize their vocations."

From this flowed an abundance of vocations, as the photo above shows, 'the labours called to the harvest' which was quite notable in it's day for such a very small village...323 vocations in fact, 152 priests (diocesan and religious), and 171 nuns belonging to 41 different congregations. As many as three or four vocations came from some of these families.

Here at Spiritual Motherhood for Priests, we hope to create a 'virtual' online gathering of mothers. We have our Adoration list in the righthand sidebar for ladies to show our solidarity together in offering one hour adoration a month. If you wish to have your name added to that list, please email us

We encourage mothers to offer their Holy Communion for family vocations on the First Sunday of the Month (the day chosen by the Mothers of Lu.) As well as offering this prayer below at Mass which was first composed for the Mothers of Lu:

We look forward to joining with you all in prayer and adoration, in union in the Mystical Body of Christ, praying for vocations within our families, within our parish!

New Priests in Focus for the Week

Every Thursday we change the three priests names for the Weekly Priests in Focus.

We are encouraging ladies to offer an Ave for the priests mentioned when visiting our site (You will see the above widget in the top righthand sidebar under our header) and also may wish to off an Ave for these priests any other time in the week that you may remember.

Of course you may also want to offer more than the Ave's, you may want to offer other prayers and sacrifices during the week for these particular priests, whatever you feel called to do, is a blessing.

This week's priests are:

Fr Jose Manuel, Fr Mannes Tellis, Fr Brian Stanley

A list of the priests we have prayed for individually here are in the right hand sidebar down the bottom.

If you have any priests you wish to nominate to be added to the Priests in Focus please email us and we would more than happy to add that priest to our list.

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, bless us with holy, courageous priests!

First Thursday Reminder: Opportunities for Grace

Dear Spiritual Mothers, we have five First Thursdays left of the Year of the Priest to receive the Plenary Indulgence which the Church has offered for this particular year. The Church has encouraged us to offer this indulgence for our priests, seminarians, Bishops and other members of the hierarchy of the Church. It offers us many opportunites for Grace for our priests, families and ourselves.

First Thursday dates left are:

Thursday 4th February

Thursday 4th March

Thursday 1st April

Thursday 6th May

Thursday 3rd June

Conditions for a Plenary Indulgence:
Assist at Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion on one or all of the above days. Go to Confession and pray for the intentions of the Pope. Offer prayers to Jesus Christ supreme and eternal Priest, for the priest of His Church, or perform any good work to sanctify and conform priests to Christ’s Heart.

Conditions for a Partial Indulgence:
On any day of the year for priests, repeat five times the Our Father, Hail Mary, & Glory Be, in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to ask that priests maintain purity and sanctity of life.

This is the official prayer from the Church:
Dear Lord, we pray that the Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around Your priests and through her intercession strengthen them for their ministry. We pray that Mary will guide your priests to follow her own words “Do what ever He tells you” (Jn 2:5)


May Your priests have the heart of St Joseph, Mary’s most chaste spouse. May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the Cross. May Your priests be Holy, filled with the fire of Your love seeking nothing but Your greater glory and the salvation of souls.
Amen.

Here is a beautiful prayer from Cardinal Justin Rigali:  

Prayer for Vocations:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal Father, Son of the Virgin Mary, we thank You for offering Your life in sacrifice on the Cross, and for renewing this sacrifice in every Mass celebrated throughout the world. In the Power of the Holy Spirit we adore You and proclaim Your living presence in the Eucharist. We desire to imitate the love You show us in Your death and resurrection, by loving and serving one another. We ask you to call many young people to religious life, and to provide holy and generous priests that are so needed in Your Church today. Lord Jesus, hear our prayer.

Amen

Remember

If the priest is a saint, his people will be holy.

If the priest is holy his people will be good.

If the priest is good his people will be decent.

If the priest is decent, his people will be Godless

Act of love of the Holy Priest of Ars

I love you, oh my God and my only desire is to love you until my last breath.
I love you, oh infinitely kind God and I prefer to die loving you than to live a single moment without loving you.
I love you, oh my God and I long for heaven only in order to know the bliss of loving you perfectly.
I love you, oh my God and I only fear going to hell because there I will never experience the sweet consolation of loving you.
Oh my God, if my tongue is not able to say at every opportunity that I love you, I want at least my heart to repeat it to you as many times as I take a breath.
My God give me the grace of suffering out of love for you, of loving you while I suffer. Give me the grace of one day breathing my last out of love for you and at the same time feeling how much I love you.
The closer I come to my final end the more I beseech you to intensify and perfect my love for you.
Amen.