Today we pray for the Bishop of Rome; the Servant of the Servants of God; the Vicar of Christ; Successor Of St. Peter, Prince Of The Apostles; Supreme Pontiff Of The Universal Church; Primate Of Italy; Archbishop And Metropolitan Of The Roman Province; Sovereign Of Vatican City State; His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

It is a great blessing for the Church to have such a holy pope and our duty and delight to pray for him. May he help lead us all closer to Christ, and may he always steer the Bark of Peter straight and true. Sweet Mother Mary, watch over him, protect him from those who would wish him ill, strengthen him in his office and draw him ever closer to your Son.

Today we pray for all deceased priests and religious.

In their lives on earth the prayed for us, consoled us, brought us the sacraments.  Let us now in their deaths pray for them that they might behold the Beatific Vision forever.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

In honor of Mary.  Mater Misericordiae, ora pro nobis!

To all of us, actually, in a three-part video:

On this last day of the month we pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, both throughout the world and in a special way within the Diocese of Manchester.  We pray not only that the Lord will call many souls to His service as priests and religious, but that those souls will hear the call and answer it, and that we might always support them in any and every way possible to do so.  May our Bishop and his staff find renewed ways to draw young men to the priesthood and men and women everywhere to the religious life.

Sweet Mother Mary, Mother of Priests, ora pro nobis!  St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests, ora pro nobis!  St. Benedict and St. Teresa of Avila, patron saints of members of religious orders, ora pro nobis!

One of the primary reasons I looked into Catholicism lo those many years ago was the papacy.  I just couldn’t get around “you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church” (Mt. 16:18).  It should come as no surprise that these very words are the basis of a beautiful song, as the Church has always expressed her great joys in music.  It is with great joy, and a hat tip to CathCon, that I give you this gem:

Today we pray for Rev. Maurice Larochelle and Rev. John MacKenzie.

Fr. Larochelle was ordained in 1987 and is pastor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal’s Parish in Hampton.

Fr. MacKenzie was ordained in 2000 and is pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Lincoln.  I still have the monstrance lapel pin he once gave me as well as the invitation to his ordination.

May the Lord bless them and guide them, and may He reveal Himself to them through their ministries.  May Our Lady draw them in and shelter them and lead them ever closer to her Son.

My son has been telling me for several days now that they’re working on a song in Latin in choir practice, but he couldn’t quite remember exactly what it was.  Today I had the chance to pick him up from choir after school and I figured he’d be able to remember the name right after practice.  In his best third-grade I’ve-never-been-trained-in-Latin he tells me it’s Adoramus Te, Christe.  A beautiful, if short, piece and one I’ll be quite glad to hear at Mass this Saturday.  Ecstatic, even.

Then something … unexpected … happened.  Out of my random selection of MP3s I’ve copied to my Sirius Stiletto comes … wait for it … Adoramus Te, Christe from the Catholic Latin Classics CD from Richard Proulx’s Cathedral Singers.  Somehow, I think we have a certain approval of the selection.  Even though there’s no way the childrens’ choir will sound anywhere near as polished as the Cathedral Singers, it will be music to my ears and bliss in my heart.

Today we pray for Rev. Gary Kosmowski and Rev. Steven Kucharski.

Fr. Kosmowski was ordained in 1990 and is pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Laconia.

Fr. Kucharski was ordained in 1977 and serves as Chaplain for Catholic Medical Center in Manchester.

May their ministries be blessed and may they draw ever greater numbers of souls to Christ.  May Mary bring them to her Immaculate Heart and show them the way to her Son.