The Value of Prayer and Sacrifice for Priests

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J.

“Why do priests need special graces from God? They need special graces because they have extraordinary responsibilities before God. They are to be more than ordinarily holy, more generous, more zealous, more patient. In a word, those who are responsible for Christ's presence on earth they are to be, of all people, most Christ-like. They are to be patterns of what Christ wants all of us to be. Count all of the grave crises in the Church over the centuries. Every single one of them, somehow at heart, was due to the fact that priests had failed the people of God.”