A Prayer of Pius X

Jesus, Eternal Priest, Good Shepherd and source of life, who out of the singular goodness of your Heart gave us priests to bring to fulfilment in us the desires of holiness that your grace has inspired, we beseech you: come to their aid with your gracious mercy.

May there beat in them, O Jesus, a faith alive in deeds, a hope unshaken in trials, a love ardent in its purposes. May your word, a ray of eternal Wisdom, become through unceasing meditation the inward food of their life.

And may the example of your life and of your Passion be renewed in the way they live and in their sufferings, for our upbuilding, for our enlightenment and for our consolation in sorrow. Grant, O Lord, that our priests, devoted solely to the care of your glory, may persevere faithfully in their duty of purity of conscience until the last breath of life. And when, with the death of the body, they render into your hands a task well fulfilled, may they receive in you, Lord Jesus, who on earth were their master, amid the splendour of the saints, the eternal reward of justice. Amen.