CONFRATERNITY OF SPIRITUAL MOTHERS FOR PRIESTS
What We Do
This is an organized effort to gather as many women as we can all around the world praying for the priests of the Universal Catholic Church.
It is our desire that through our prayers and sufferings, God will bless his church so that there will be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit for renewal and revival of the priesthood and religious orders.
That all his priests will be fervent, faithful and long suffering in this work of harvesting souls...for that is the only thing that God wants...souls...souls....souls.
We need priests who bring us JESUS in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist...no one, but no one...can make JESUS present on that altar but a priest.
And as St. Padre Pio said, "The world could exist better without the sun than without the Eucharist."
This is an organized effort to gather as many women as we can all around the world praying for the priests of the Universal Catholic Church.
It is our desire that through our prayers and sufferings, God will bless his church so that there will be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit for renewal and revival of the priesthood and religious orders.
That all his priests will be fervent, faithful and long suffering in this work of harvesting souls...for that is the only thing that God wants...souls...souls....souls.
We need priests who bring us JESUS in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist...no one, but no one...can make JESUS present on that altar but a priest.
And as St. Padre Pio said, "The world could exist better without the sun than without the Eucharist."
How We're Different
We're not. There are many beautiful ministries, missions, apostolates, confraternities and organizations that are working for the same thing...souls.
It is our prayer that we will be one more working together with, in union with all those who labour for souls. However our main focus is on the priests, and the priesthood.
This work would amount to nothing if we did not hold the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, Teacher and Guide as our model of humility and faith and suffering. It is our prayer that we will imitate Her as she prayed unceasingly for the success of the Apostles preaching and labors, for their strength, as the first priests of the church, and for their fruitful harvest of souls. This She, the Queen of Heaven, has done and continues to do by obtaining from the Trinity that grace we ask for.
We're not. There are many beautiful ministries, missions, apostolates, confraternities and organizations that are working for the same thing...souls.
It is our prayer that we will be one more working together with, in union with all those who labour for souls. However our main focus is on the priests, and the priesthood.
This work would amount to nothing if we did not hold the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, Teacher and Guide as our model of humility and faith and suffering. It is our prayer that we will imitate Her as she prayed unceasingly for the success of the Apostles preaching and labors, for their strength, as the first priests of the church, and for their fruitful harvest of souls. This She, the Queen of Heaven, has done and continues to do by obtaining from the Trinity that grace we ask for.
How We Got Started
The idea of gathering women of all walks of life to pray for priests came after reading a letter written by
Cláudio Card. Hummes, Prefect, from the Vatican.
A letter dated, 8 December 2007 sent by the Congregation of the Faith to promote Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and spiritual maternity.
It was actually sent to bishops asking them to promote Eucharistic Adoration for this intention. There were several beautiful stories of ordinary women and nuns who, by their simple lives of prayer and suffering, obtained great priests for God.
Through that document came the inspiration. May God bless his work abundantly.
The idea of gathering women of all walks of life to pray for priests came after reading a letter written by
Cláudio Card. Hummes, Prefect, from the Vatican.
A letter dated, 8 December 2007 sent by the Congregation of the Faith to promote Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and spiritual maternity.
It was actually sent to bishops asking them to promote Eucharistic Adoration for this intention. There were several beautiful stories of ordinary women and nuns who, by their simple lives of prayer and suffering, obtained great priests for God.
Through that document came the inspiration. May God bless his work abundantly.
Letter sent by the Congregation of the Faith that inspired this confraternity:
Your Excellency,
In today’s world a great many things are necessary for the good of the Clergy and the
fruitfulness of pastoral ministry. With a firm determination to face such challenges without disregarding the difficulties and struggles, and with an awareness that action follows being and that the soul of every apostolate is Divine intimacy, it is our intention for the departure point to be a spiritual endeavor.
In order to continually maintain a greater awareness of the ontological link between the Eucharist and the Priesthood, and in order to recognize the special maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for each Priest, it is our intention to bring about a connection between perpetual Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and the initiation of a commitment on the part of consecrated feminine souls —following the typology of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Eternal High Priest, and Helper in his work of Redemption—who might wish to spiritually adopt priests in order to help them with their self-offering, prayer, and penance. Adoration always involves an act of reparation for sins.
With that in mind, we suggest a particular intention in this regard.
According to the constant content of Sacred Tradition, the mystery and reality of the
Church cannot be reduced to the hierarchical structure, the liturgy, the sacraments, and juridical ordinances. In fact, the intimate nature of the Church and the origin of its sanctifying efficacy must be found first in a mystical union with Christ.
According to the doctrine and the very structure of the Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, Lumen Gentium, such a union cannot be conceived separately from the Mother of the Word Incarnate—the one whom Jesus desired to be intimately united with Himself for the salvation of all humanity.
Therefore, it is no accident that on the same day in which the Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church was promulgated—21 November 1964—Pope Paul VI also proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary as
“Mother of the Church,” i.e., mother of the faithful and the pastors.
With reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Second Vatican Council expresses
itself in these words: “She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented
Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him by compassion as He died on the Cross. In this singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Savior in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace.” (LG 61)
Without adding or detracting from the singular mediation of Christ Jesus, the Blessed
Virgin Mary is acknowledged and invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate,
Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix. She is the model of maternal love who must inspire all those who cooperate—through the apostolic mission of the Church—in the regeneration of all humanity (cfr. LG 65).
In light of these teachings, which belong to the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican
Council, the faithful are called to turn their eyes to Mary—shining example of every virtue —and imitate her as the first disciple. It is she to whom every other disciple was entrusted by Christ as she stood at the foot of the cross (cfr. Jn 19:25-27). By becoming her children, we learn the true meaning of life in Christ.
Thereby—and precisely because of the place occupied and the role served by the
Most Blessed Virgin in salvation history—we intend in a very particular way to entrust all priests to Mary, the Mother of the High and Eternal Priest, bringing about in the Church a movement of prayer, placing 24 hour continuous Eucharistic adoration at the centre, so that a prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, petition, and reparation, will be raised to God, incessantly and from every corner of the earth, with the primary intention of awakening a sufficient number of holy vocations to the priestly state and, at the same time, spiritually uniting with a certain spiritual maternity—at the level of the Mystical Body—all those who have already been called to the ministerial priesthood and are ontologically conformed to the one High and Eternal Priest. This movement will offer better service to Christ and his brothers —those who are at once “inside” the Church and also “at the forefront” of the Church, standing in Christ’s stead and representing Him, as head, shepherd and spouse of the Church (cfr. Pastores Dabo Vobis 16).
We are asking, therefore, all diocesan Ordinaries who apprehend in a particular way
the specificity and irreplaceability of the ordained ministry in the life of the Church, together with the urgency of a common action in support of the ministerial priesthood, to take an active role and promote—in the different portions of the People of God entrusted to them—true and proper cenacles in which clerics, religious and lay people—united among themselves in the spirit of true communion—may devote themselves to prayer, in the form of continuous Eucharistic adoration in a spirit of genuine and authentic reparation and purification. It is our hope that the enclosed brochure outlining the specifics of the initiative will imbue this project with a spirit of faith.
May Mary, Mother of the One, Eternal High Priest, bless this initiative, and may she intercede before God, pleading for an authentic renewal of priestly life, taking as a model the only possible model: Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd!
I greet you cordially in the bond of ecclesial communion, with sentiments of profound
collegial affection.
Cláudio Card. Hummes
Prefect
Mauro Piacenza
Secretary
From the Vatican, 8 December 2007
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Your Excellency,
In today’s world a great many things are necessary for the good of the Clergy and the
fruitfulness of pastoral ministry. With a firm determination to face such challenges without disregarding the difficulties and struggles, and with an awareness that action follows being and that the soul of every apostolate is Divine intimacy, it is our intention for the departure point to be a spiritual endeavor.
In order to continually maintain a greater awareness of the ontological link between the Eucharist and the Priesthood, and in order to recognize the special maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for each Priest, it is our intention to bring about a connection between perpetual Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and the initiation of a commitment on the part of consecrated feminine souls —following the typology of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Eternal High Priest, and Helper in his work of Redemption—who might wish to spiritually adopt priests in order to help them with their self-offering, prayer, and penance. Adoration always involves an act of reparation for sins.
With that in mind, we suggest a particular intention in this regard.
According to the constant content of Sacred Tradition, the mystery and reality of the
Church cannot be reduced to the hierarchical structure, the liturgy, the sacraments, and juridical ordinances. In fact, the intimate nature of the Church and the origin of its sanctifying efficacy must be found first in a mystical union with Christ.
According to the doctrine and the very structure of the Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, Lumen Gentium, such a union cannot be conceived separately from the Mother of the Word Incarnate—the one whom Jesus desired to be intimately united with Himself for the salvation of all humanity.
Therefore, it is no accident that on the same day in which the Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church was promulgated—21 November 1964—Pope Paul VI also proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary as
“Mother of the Church,” i.e., mother of the faithful and the pastors.
With reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Second Vatican Council expresses
itself in these words: “She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ. She presented
Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him by compassion as He died on the Cross. In this singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Savior in giving back supernatural life to souls. Wherefore she is our mother in the order of grace.” (LG 61)
Without adding or detracting from the singular mediation of Christ Jesus, the Blessed
Virgin Mary is acknowledged and invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate,
Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix. She is the model of maternal love who must inspire all those who cooperate—through the apostolic mission of the Church—in the regeneration of all humanity (cfr. LG 65).
In light of these teachings, which belong to the ecclesiology of the Second Vatican
Council, the faithful are called to turn their eyes to Mary—shining example of every virtue —and imitate her as the first disciple. It is she to whom every other disciple was entrusted by Christ as she stood at the foot of the cross (cfr. Jn 19:25-27). By becoming her children, we learn the true meaning of life in Christ.
Thereby—and precisely because of the place occupied and the role served by the
Most Blessed Virgin in salvation history—we intend in a very particular way to entrust all priests to Mary, the Mother of the High and Eternal Priest, bringing about in the Church a movement of prayer, placing 24 hour continuous Eucharistic adoration at the centre, so that a prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, petition, and reparation, will be raised to God, incessantly and from every corner of the earth, with the primary intention of awakening a sufficient number of holy vocations to the priestly state and, at the same time, spiritually uniting with a certain spiritual maternity—at the level of the Mystical Body—all those who have already been called to the ministerial priesthood and are ontologically conformed to the one High and Eternal Priest. This movement will offer better service to Christ and his brothers —those who are at once “inside” the Church and also “at the forefront” of the Church, standing in Christ’s stead and representing Him, as head, shepherd and spouse of the Church (cfr. Pastores Dabo Vobis 16).
We are asking, therefore, all diocesan Ordinaries who apprehend in a particular way
the specificity and irreplaceability of the ordained ministry in the life of the Church, together with the urgency of a common action in support of the ministerial priesthood, to take an active role and promote—in the different portions of the People of God entrusted to them—true and proper cenacles in which clerics, religious and lay people—united among themselves in the spirit of true communion—may devote themselves to prayer, in the form of continuous Eucharistic adoration in a spirit of genuine and authentic reparation and purification. It is our hope that the enclosed brochure outlining the specifics of the initiative will imbue this project with a spirit of faith.
May Mary, Mother of the One, Eternal High Priest, bless this initiative, and may she intercede before God, pleading for an authentic renewal of priestly life, taking as a model the only possible model: Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd!
I greet you cordially in the bond of ecclesial communion, with sentiments of profound
collegial affection.
Cláudio Card. Hummes
Prefect
Mauro Piacenza
Secretary
From the Vatican, 8 December 2007
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
I will be adding pages with the stories that accompanied this letter. They are stories of tremendous inspiration of different women and how their prayers affected the church and how we as holy women of god can do the same.
Dedicated to Mary, Queen of the Clergy and Mother of Priests