17/08/2026
PLEASE, PRAY FOR OUR PRIESTS.
When calamity comes, people naturally run toward safety.
But sometimes, a priest has to run toward the people who cannot run.
Toward the elderly waiting inside a flooded home.
Toward the family who has nothing left to eat.
Toward the child who is afraid.
Toward the poor who have nowhere else to go.
Sometimes, the priest himself is tired.
His own home may be flooded.
His resources may already be empty.
He may not even know where tomorrow’s relief goods will come from.
But he stays.
Because a shepherd cannot easily leave when he knows that somewhere in his parish, one of his sheep is still suffering.
And perhaps this is one of the hidden crosses of priesthood:
to carry the worries of many while quietly carrying your own.
To tell others, “May awa ang Diyos,” while you yourself are begging God for strength.
To give hope even when your own heart is tired.
To keep giving when there is almost nothing left to give.
So when you see your priest distributing food, walking through floodwaters, asking for donations, opening the church to evacuees, visiting families, or simply sitting beside someone who has lost everything—
please do not only thank him. Pray for him.
Behind those hands that bless you are hands that also become tired.
Behind the vestments is a human heart that can also become weary.
Behind the words, “I will pray for you,” is a man who also needs someone to pray for him.
St. John Mary Vianney said:
“The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus.”
And perhaps in times of calamity, we understand those words more deeply.
The Heart of Jesus does not watch suffering from a distance.
It comes near.
It stays.
It serves.
It suffers with His people.
And it loves until there is nothing left to give but itself.
🙏🏻 Lord, remember Your priests.
When their bodies are tired, be their strength.
When their hearts are heavy, be their consolation.
When their resources are empty, be their Providence.
When they quietly cry for the people entrusted to them, receive every tear as a prayer.
And when they begin to feel that what they are doing is too little, whisper into their hearts:
“Stay with My people.
Love them for Me.
I am with you.”
❤️ Lord, take care of the shepherds who refuse to abandon Your sheep.
St. John Mary Vianney, Patron Saint of Parish Priests, pray for our priests.
