By consecration, another...

 I have been crucified with Christ 

and I no longer live,

but Christ lives in me. - Galatians 2:20

A prayer by the saintly Irish Jesuit priest, Father William Doyle. 

You will recognize straightaway his distinctive blend of
manly fervor and passion for the Most Holy Eucharist.

O my God, pour out in abundance
Thy spirit of sacrifice upon Thy priests. 
It is both their glory and their duty 

to become victims, to be burnt up for souls,

to live without ordinary joys, to be often the 

objects of distrust, injustice, and persecution.

The words they say every day at the altar,
"This is my Body, this is my Blood,"
grant them to apply to themselves:
"I am no longer myself, I am Jesus, Jesus crucified.

I am, like the bread and wine, a substance 

no longer itself, but by consecration another."

O my God, I burn with desire 

for the sanctification of Thy priests. 

I wish all the priestly hands which touch Thee 

were hands whose touch is gentle and pleasing to Thee, 

that all the mouths uttering such sublime words 

at the altar should never descend to speaking trivialities.

Let priests in all their person stay 

at the level of their lofty functions, 

let every man find them simple and great, 

like the Holy Eucharist, 

accessible to all yet above the rest of men.

O my God, grant them to carry with them 

from the Mass of today,
a thirst for the Mass of tomorrow,
and grant them, 

ladened themselves with gifts, to share 

these abundantly with their fellow men. Amen.

Fr Willie Doyle

Always worth the visit to...

Fr Doyle’s writings | Remembering Fr Willie Doyle SJ