Eternal and Merciful Father, I love you, adore you and glorify your Mighty Name. You hear the cries of your people and in your mercy hasten to choose weak human beings like me “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Lk 4:18).
I thank you for the gift of your mercy by which you have called me and anointed me to be your priest in the Church for your people, after the model of Jesus Christ, the eternal priest. Grant that I may keep your Word in my heart and constantly ponder over it like Mary our Mother; that I may walk in your path like St. Joseph, the Protector of the Holy Family and that I may proclaim your Word with conviction and excitement, without hesitation or fear like the Apostles. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and enable me to be guided by him.
I thank you Lord for making me a minister of the Eucharist at which you offer yourself to be sacramentally present to the whole world. May the Sacraments that I administer challenge me to abide in you always. Bless all those for whom I break your Word or administer your Sacraments so that they may come to the Salvation you have pledged to the whole humanity.
May all who hear the Word through my mouth receive the Word with joy and bear fruits in abundance through repentance of heart and sanctification of life. May I become an instrument of your peace, a sign of your presence and an assurance of your mercy. I am deeply aware that I am an unworthy clay pot containing your treasures. Protect me and all your priests from the “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph 6:16). Keep me always faithful to you, and help me to cling to you always so that having run race marked out for me, I may one day come to be crowned by you in the presence of your angels, saints and martyrs. I ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.