ATE LAST year, in honor of the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, I posted two prayers especially suitable for priests, but also usable by the faithful. One was a prayer of preparation for Mass, and the other was a prayer of farewell to the altar after Mass.

Today I am sharing a third prayer that could well go along with the other two. As the text makes clear, this is a prayer specifically for priests.

I commend it to all of our readers who have been given the care of souls:

Lord Jesus, Eternal Priest,
Thou hast called me to Thy priesthood
to carry on the work which Thou didst begin.
Fit me, I pray Thee, for this task:

with such faith that, through my voice, even the disbelieving may listen to Thy Word;

with such hope that, through my hands, even the despairing may be held fast in Thy grip;

and with such charity that, through my heart, even the despised may know that Thou couldst never cease to love them.

Join me so deeply to Thyself than no one I meet shall lie beyond Thy saving reach.

Amen.

My immediate source for this prayer is a religious brother friend of mine, who says that it was printed in the 1940’s. I have no further information on its original source.

* * * UPDATE * * *

A reader contacted me to say that he received a plaque featuring this prayer in the early 1970’s. That plaque bears a copyright mark attributing it to Berliner & McGinnis, Nevada City, California.