AN HOUR WITH THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS FOR

PRIESTS

1. ENTRANCE HYM/EXPOSITION

O salutaris hostia. Quae caeli pandis ostium. Bella premunt

hostilia. Da robur fer auxilium. Uni trinoque Domino. Sit
sempiterna gloria. Qui vitam sine termino. Nobis donet in patria.
Amen.

2. INTRODUCTION

Leader: The Sacred Heart is a ‘refuge’, the seat of mercy, in which

to recover the encounter with God who is the source of infinite love
and the fount from which flows the Holy Spirit.”

Before the heart of Jesus, we pray for priests, for ourselves, for our
brother priests, for each other. We join all priests in prayer that we
may be holy priests, capable of leading even in these difficult and
trying times. We pray that faith may not fail us so that we can lead
with hope and love.

3. ACT OF LOVE OF THE HOLY CURÉ D’ ARS

All: I love you, O my God. My only desire is to love you, until the
last breath of my life. I love you, O infinite loveable God, and I
prefer to die loving you, rather than to live for an instant without
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you. I love you, O my God, and I desire only to go to heaven, to
have happiness of loving you perfectly. I love you, O my God, and
my only fear is to go to hell, because one will never have the sweet
solace of loving you there. O my God, if my tongue can not say at
all times that I love you, at least I want my heart to repeat it to you
as many times as I breathe. Ah! Do me the grace: to suffer while
loving you, to love you while suffering, and that when I die, I not
only love you, but experience in my heart. I beg you that the closer
I come to my final end, you will increase and perfect my love for
you. Amen.

4. SILENT ADORATION (seated)

5. Psalm

I have waited, waited for the Lord and he stooped toward me and
heard my cry. And put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our
God. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you
gave me. Holocausts or sin offerings you sought not; then he said I,
“Behold I come.” R.

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O my

God, is my delight, And your law is within my heart!” R.

I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my

lips, as you, O Lord, know. R.

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Withhold not, O Lord, your compassion from me; may your
kindness and your truth ever preserve me. R.

6. SILENT ADORATION

7. PRAYER

I thank the Holy Spirit for the gift of priests whose life and ministry
bring Christ to people and lead them to bring Christ to each other.
We may continue to be instruments of your grace and the living
sacrament of your loving presence in the world: Holy Spirit, keep
priests and all of us in your love.

I am grateful to you for the many gifts priests bring to our

community: for drawing people together in worship, for visiting
them in their homes, for comforting them in sickness, for showing
them compassion, for blessing marriages, for baptizing children, for
confirming others in their calling, for supporting them in
bereavement, for helping them to grow in faith, for encouraging
them to take the initiative, for helping the whole community realize
God’s presence among us: Holy Spirit, keep priests and all of us in
your love.

For my part, I pray that I may always be attentive to their needs, take
their needs, and never take for granted that my fellow priests also
need friendship and love, welcome and a sense of belonging, kind
words and acts of thoughtfulness: Holy Spirit, keep priests and all
of us in your love.

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I pray, also for priests who have wounded the priesthood. May
people be willing to forgive and may they be open for healing. May
we support one another during times of crisis: Holy Spirit, keep your
priests and all of us in your love.

Holy Spirit, I ask you to sanctify all priests and confirm us in our
calling. Give us the gifts we need to respond with generosity and a
joyful heart, in the name of Jesus the Lord: Holy Spirit, keep priests
and all of us in your love.

4. SILENT ADORATION

5. FINAL PRAYER

Lord Jesus, I know that you have made us in the likeness of your
own priesthood. You have consecrated us, set us apart, anointed us,
filled us with the Holy Spirit, appointed us to preach, to minister, to
console, to forgive, and to feed people with Your Body and Blood.
Yet I know, too, that we are one with others and share in their human
weaknesses. We are tempted to sin and discouragement, needing to
be ministered to, to be consoled and forgiven.

Indeed, I thank You for choosing us from among your people, so

that we may understand them as you understand us, suffer with them
and rejoice with them, worry with them and trust with them, share
with their beings, their lives, their faith.

I ask that you give us this day the gift you gave your chosen ones on
the way to Emmaus: Your presence in their hearts, your holiness in
their souls, your joy in their in their spirits. And let us see you face
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to face in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread. I pray to you, O
Lord, through Mary the Mother of all priests. Amen.

6. BENEDICTION/REPOSITION (Tantum Ergo)

Leader: You have given them bread from heaven.

All : Having all sweetness within it.

Leader: Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial
of your suffering and death. May our worship of this Sacrament
of you Body and Blood help us to experience the salvation you
won for us and the peace of the kingdom, where you live and
reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Divine Praises

 Blessed be God, Author of Vocation

 Blessed be the Name of Jesus, the Lord of the Harvest
 Blessed be Jesus Christ, the Compassionate Lord
 Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart, the Merciful
 Blessed be His Most Precious Blood, who washed our sins
 Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, our
Spiritual Food
 Blessed be the Holy Spirit, Light of those who are called
 Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary, Mother of Vocations
 Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception, the Model of All
Priests

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  Blessed be her glorious Assumption, intecessor upon all the
Candidates to the Consecrated life
 Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin, Mother of all Missionaries.
 Blessed be Joseph, Protector of the Universal Church
 Blessed be God in His Holy Angels, the Apostles and Saints of the
Church

7. FINAL HYMN

Holy God, we praise Thy Name; Lord of all, we bow before Thee; All
on earth, thy scepter claim, All in Heaven above adore Thee. Infinite,
Thy vast domain, Everlasting is thy reign!

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 PENITENTIAL RITE
Clergy Retreat

1. Introductory Rites

 Opening Hymn

Time to change

It’s time for us to make our dreams come true

a guiding voice will tell us what to do.
It’s the time to change ourselves
and show the world that we still truly care for each other.

We’ll lead them to a place beyond the sea

a place of love where ev’ry one is free,
don’t despair the path to happiness is wide,
if we must change our ways call on god for our guide
if we must change our ways call on god for our guide.

 Sign of the Cross

 Greeting
P. Grace and peace from God the Father
and from Jesus Christ who loved us
and washed away our sins in his blood
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 be with you.

A. And with your spirit

2. Opening Prayer

P Almighty and merciful God

you have brought us together in the name of your Son
to receive your mercy and grace in our time of need.
Open our eyes to see the evil we have done.
Touch our hearts and convert us to you.

Where sin has divided and scattered,

may your love make one again;
where sin has brought weakness,
may your power heal and strengthen;
where sin has brought death,
may your spirit raise to new life.

Give us new heart to love you,

so that our lives may reflect the image of your Son.
may the world see the glory of Christ
revealed in your Church,
and come to know that he is the one whom you have
sent,
Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.

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A. Amen.

3. Reading: John 13: 21-30

4. Silent Reflection
5. Confessio Peccati

6. Individual Confession
7. Proclamation of Praise of God’s Mercy: Magnificat
8. Concluding Rite

 Final Blessing

P. May the Lord guide your hearts in the way of his love
and fill you with Christ-like patience
A. Amen.

P. May he give you strength to walk in newness of life and

to please him in all things.
A. Amen.

P. May almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit.
A. Amen.

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  Final Hymn

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
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A life of joy and peace.

The world shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun refuse to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun

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 CONFESSIO PECCATI

Left Choir:
We admit that we have not shielded ourselves
from the sacrilegious celebration
of the sacred mysteries of faith.
In our desire to give the blessings
of the Church and the presence of the lord in the sacraments,
we have neglected our own spiritual lives and have reduced
ourselves
to mere functionaries in the Church.
We are not only functionaries of rituals.
We should be sacraments of God for people.

Right Choir:
We beg the gentle and merciful Lord
to forgive us for our arrogance towards the poor,

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the uneducated and the powerless.
We allowed ourselves to be blinded
by the lure of money, political influence
and Church power in exchange for simplicity of life and
poverty of spirit.
We are ashamed of the reality of abusive
and unworthy administration
of the temporal goods of the Church
for personal welfare
rather than for the good of the poor.
We are ashamed to admit the luxury
of our priestly lifestyle.

Left Choir:
We beg the Lord to forgive us
for our failure to live lives of continence
for the sake of the kingdom.
Many of those whom we should serve

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are suffering quietly and alone
due to our grave abuse of their trust,
their friendship and their respect for the holy priesthood.We
bow our heads in shame, in guilt and sadness and ask these
our brethren to forgive us.

Right Choir:
We must be first and foremost
pastors and teachers.
We confess that there have been times
in the recent past when we appeared to be
more like politicians than priests;
we sounded more like businessmen than pastors.
We know we displeased God
because of these actuation.

Left Choir:
We plead with our brother-priests
to forgive us, too. We have done
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to our own brothers hat we do not like done to us.
Instead of talking to priests in crisis,
we talked about them.
Instead of partnership in ministry,
we have chosen competition.

In the transition of parishes

from one pastor to another,
we confess that we have been inconsiderate
to our predecessors and successors.

Many of us have started our ministries

in new assignments
as if nothing good have been done
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by our predecessors.
We are ashamed to admit this.
It saddens us to accept this.
We ask pardon from God and
from our brother-priests.

Right Choir:
We beg our bishop
to forgive us too.
We plead with him to forgive us
when we talked unkindly of him
and contributed to gossip about him.
We admit being disobedient at times
and deliberately staying away from meetings
for our ongoing formation
and for the pastoral care of God’s people.

Left Choir:
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Our confessio peccati
would gravely be incomplete
without making this
a confessio laudis too.
We extol the heroism of the priests who have gone before us
– the Jesuits, the Columban Fathers and others who
pioneered the mission work in Pagadian - who endured
sickness for so many years faithfully and lovingly, with
cheerfulness and obedience. We remember their pastoral
solitude and their gentleness for so long. We remember with
great admiration and fondness their charity which never sent
anybody away without a gift of alms.

Right choir:
These priests are our pride.
They give us reason to thank God.
we your pastors exclaim
“We are black and stained but we are beautiful.”
We have strained our priesthood
with the filth of our sinful humanity.
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We know and we believe
that we remain beautiful and lovely.
It is God who makes us beautiful.
It is your steadfast love for us
that makes us lovely.

All:
I confess to almighty God
And to you my brothers, that I have sinned through my own
fault, my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and
in what I have failed to do. And I ask the Blessed Virgin Mary
and all the angels and saints and you my brothers to pray for
me to the Lord Our God. Amen

INDIVIDUAL CONFESSION FOLLOWS. WE MINISTER

THE SACRAMENT TO EACH OTHER IN HUMILTY,
CONFIDENCE AND LOVE.

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