I am the cook for two priests in our parish. My favorite thing to do is pray for them while I'm cooking. Of course I always try to make their dinners healthy and delicious but about once per week, I will bake a cake or pie that I know they like. I know they can do without but I enjoy doing it. They don't know but I fast from food for them every Monday. When my stomach is growling, that reminds me of their own sacrifice for the Church and I'm happy to feel the hunger pain. I'm reminded that they are responsible for my reversion two years ago. I hate to think of where I'd be right now!

Wise words, Father. I would also add that, if someone doesn't like their pastor, pray for them. Don't gossip about them.

My Pastor who is all by himself works so tirelessly for our parish, and he is so lonely, but he does a great job, and I do pray for him and I give him verbal support to let him know he is doing great, and well. He has brought in extra Holy Mass Hours, and confession extra on Friday all this for one PRIEST.

Thank you for this reminder, father. We often forgotten that we should see Jesus in our Parish priests and give them encouragement and support. Keep them in our prayers and ask our Blessed Virgin Mother Mary to protect them from the devil.

I often think about the difficulties and pressures priests face on a daily basis. They need our love, prayers and encouragement. I feel truly grateful for our priests and all that they do and thank you for giving us insight on how important it is to support them. God bless you all !

I work as the Director of Parish Services (basically the secretary) and this is so true! There is one priest assigned at our parish and my dad is the deacon. The parish is in the inner city with a mainly latino population. These men tirelessly work to make sure the people of God are fed and taken care of.

This video did find me in a perfect time, Father! In a time when I wanted to accuse and fall into sin, it helped me to see the situation and think how to help. God bless You, fr.Mark-Marry! Praise the Lord!

I belong to an Apostolate. Seven Sisters, Seven Brothers. We pray for priests. We're just consecrated lay people. We also offer our personal sufferings for those priests. I have a lot of hope that my future husband will have the desire to join me in prayer, suffering and just living a good and life for others just because we care. God bless you Father. Thanks for this post. Prayers for you, and the priests and Bishops that are Dads to me tonight.

I feel so sad for that poor parish priest who got yelled at by that man. That's heartbreaking. I pray for my parish priests and their intentions with every Rosary.

Dear Fr Mark-Mary, seeing this video today was totally providential. The Lord has been working to show me how important clergy is to Him and to us. Thank you for noticing the hardships of parish priests and calling our attention to them. I wholeheartedly agree with each word you said in this video. God bless you for your kindness and ministry.

Thank you Father. We all need to be reminded of all our priests do for us. Praying for you today.

Every Parish should have a committed group or a parish practice dedicated being sure someone praying for their priest everyday. They need the Love, Grace and support. Even a priest perceived to be just "ok" or "bad" can become greater by daily prayers. And how joyful will God be if one priest is saved from disaster because of the prayers of his parish "children".

Keep them we pray Thee Dearest Lord Keep them we pray Thee Dearest Lord Keep them for they are Thine Thy Priests whose life burns out before Thy consecrated shrine Keep them Thou knowest, dearest Lord The world, the flesh are strong And satan spreads a thousand snares To lead them into wrong Keep them for they are in the world Though from the world apart When earthly pleasures tempt allure Shelter them in Thy heart Keep them and comfort them in hours Of loneliness and pain When all their life of sacrifice For souls seems but in vain Keep them and O, remember, Lord They have no one but Thee Yet they have only a human heart With human frailty Keep them as spotless as the host That daily they caress Their every thought and word and deed Deign dearest Lord to bless. Amen

After stumbling on this I literally and immediately text my priest to tell him thank you and how much he means to me 🙏 thank you

So sad, when I was a kid we had at least two priests to a parish and they were well looked after by a housekeeper. A community of lay brothers lived nearby,also Catholic schools and the convent. A youth club, parish dances were regular events.my parish had a very successful boxing club and gentlemen's club (the latter a bit of a drinking den) but the priests, nuns and lay brothers were respected and the focus of the Catholic community. How times change Father Mark Mary. I fear we take our priests for granted, many of them in the UK are very elderly and must be worn out. I will pray for all our priests and let my pastor know he does a great job and is is appreciated 100%

Thank you Father for this lovely reminder, I have had the privilege of caring for a very dear priest who because a wonderful friend as well.He has passed and I have no doubt that he was welcomed into heaven with open arms. He was always faithful in spite of being mistreated by his Bishop. Blessings to you Father🙏🙏🙏☮️

This is an absolutely beautiful message, thank you father. My prayers go out to all of our priests and religious. Mother Mary help us all.

My heart breaks for that poor priest! Yes, I pray for every priest from the pope all the way down to the deacons. Great ideas for making sacrifices for the priests as well as giving them support!!

In our parish we have a group called "Seven Sisters" and we have someone signed up for each day of the week to pray a holy hour for our priest. I'm sure men would be welcome to do this as well. I have to say I have seen a change in our priest since this began. Our priest has three parishes to take care of and it has to be difficult to get to know the people and feel comfortable with them. God bless all our priests and bishops.

The three things are encouragement, engagement and prayer!

I pray for my Priest every day …thank you for the sacrifice idea along with my prayers…also I drive 60 miles to attend Mass because this Priest during the “pandemic“ he gave me Communion on the tongue…and I’m forever grateful for what he did…I light candles every time I attend Mass as well and always for him and other Priests by name…

I am two years late, but this is an awesome video. I love our Priests, they do work hard and I am so glad to hear this message. Will do father

Finally! I've already given this a thumbs up after only 1 second because after a few YEARS of trying to find a book, article, video -- anything -- on this topic! I've been thinking for a few YEARS now that someone (like maybe Dr. Scott Hahn) would write a much-needed book like "I AM MY FATHER'S KEEPER." We sometimes hear about or read about Fraternal Correction, but NEVER have I seen how to do Paternal Correction. It's almost never spoken about. And precisely because of this is why we have some of the problems we do. The lay faithful need to know how to charitably help our priests be the best priests they can be. To NOT want to do so would be giving into that bad clericalism that the Pope asks us not to give in to. Amen? We need to PRAY for our priests, CHILL with our priests (invite him for a coffee or over for dinner or to play basketball, etc.), and at times CORRECT our priests. Amen? Charity demands all three it seems to me. Am I wrong? Thanks!

Thank you Fr Mark. You really opened my eyes about my parish priest and what he does for us. I hope more people watch this video and start praying for and help their parish priest God bless 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🕍✝️

Thank you for this word, I felt the emotion in your voice. Praying for all of you!!!

I’m a victim/ survivor of priest sex abuse. He groomed me. He was a vicar. He had lots of time to look for victims like me and my family to prey on us. I had met wonderful priests before him until I met him. I like many of you praised , believed, try to encourage him in as much as I could. He had other intentions. He abused his power. Parishioners many a time don’t care for the victims. They ostracized the victims and want nothing to do with them because they only want to believe the priest. When someone’s, as many of you have stated, a priest is like Jesus. Jesus would never lure children to hurt them and robbed them of their innocence. And this priest goes on hurting other children and vulnerable adult. And the parishioners don’t know and if they do they point the victim as an instigator as the person who lured the priest to do wrong. Ignoring and choosing to find in the victim the culpable of the evil act of the priest . My believed in priests is shaken. The few times that I get to attend church , I pray to God to give me the belief that this priest that I am watching with the Eucharist , is a true follower of Jesus or another one dressed in sheep’s clothes to pray on the innocent, vulnerable and hungry parishioner who want to be close to God. And yet I wonder: is this a good one Lord? Please! , please answer me! Please pray for victims. We struggle now in trusting because we were robbed and abandoned at the same time. May God bless you all and bless the true priests. I am struggling as many victims do because we can never return to that innocence that we so happily offered before we met the impostor.

I pray that man apologized to our Lord on his behavior to the priest! I pray daily for all priests, for all they do. I'm a year old Catholic, baptized last Easter. I pray your rosary most days, and the Divine Mercy chaplet (my fave). Thank you for all you're doing, Fr Mark-Mary. Pray for our priests, whom carry the world on their shoulders, are attacked spiritual by the evil one and need our prayers!

You opened my eyes about priest's needs and what is really appreciated. You also surprised me and my ears when I heard you say in Italian "siamo pellegrini...poco a poco... buonasera". So true, we are just passing through this life and thank God for people like you that open our eyes, ears and hearts and help us on our journey.

Fr. Mark-Mary, just before watching this video, I had emailed the church clerk to request my parish priest to bless some of my rosaries. Thank you so much for thinking of the diocesan priests and reminding us to do the same. I've had a sort of falling out with the church committee of my parish 2 years ago because of something that had happened back then... and sometimes I mistakenly lump the parish priest with them when he had nothing to do with it. The diocesan priests seem to have more and more responsibilities as time passes, and the situation that your friend priest is in (being in charge of 8 parishes) is not uncommon. We tend to forget that priests are human too, and I'll make a concerted effort not to criticize, and instead say a daily prayer for my parish priest. God bless. +

Mother Mary placed on my heart to invite all our parishioner’s to pray for a different one of our 142 priests in our archdiocese. Starting 5/1/22 the bulletin will carry 7 names, so we can pray each day for a priest.

Thank you for an important reminder. Wishing you & your brother priests a happy & blessed Easter Tide.

Priests are human. Never forget.

Thank you Father for this encouragement for our blessed priests. I pray for our pastor an hour a week, the least I can do. He runs two busy parishes with daily mass and adoration and confession available multiple times a week, along with multiple meetings with church groups and organizing church social events and retreats. He works so hard to get us to heaven and it makes me sad when I hear people criticize him for being late or forgetting something. He burns himself out before the altar. 🙏🏻 ❤️

I am so so happy for this wonderful inspiration you had for our Priests. They need someone like you Father Mark so honest caring and open to tell us this truth.l know this will be a real wake up call for all who read it and PLEASE GOD ACT UPON IT. PEOPLE LETS HEED ALL THESE WORDS LOVE AND PRAY FOR EACH OTHER WE WILL BE REAL CHRISTIANS THEN..

Thank you Father Mark Mary. Our priests are always there for us when we need them and we forget that they also have their issues and struggles. This is a good reminder for us to also be there for them.

Thanks. I literally always have a laundry list of complaints that I never share because I figure our priests are dealing with lots and lots of stuff. So I pray that my complaints subside or more importantly try to pray them away... I always make an effort to make a compliment after Mass. But these ideas you introduced here are awesome. Thank you for sharing.

I pray for each priest l know in my rosary each day.Pray for the priests O Holy Mother of God and keep them close into your heart to grow like Jesus.Amen

Thanks so much Father for your words of love and encouragement, we need to be reminded yes we have to pray for them by name everyday. God Bless all our Priests for the great things that they are doing for us, especially bringing Jesus to us in every Mass. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🔥🔥🔥❤️

One of the best videos I've ever seen, thank you for this video! Our Lady Queen of priests, protect your sons.

Thank you for this Father - it is so necessary. In the good old days Parish Priests had a Curate with him, had a housekeeper and lots and lots of support. Now this has disappeared and they usually live alone and you are so right - many parishoners feel that they are free to criticize everything. Because of the abuses of some Priests (who still are in the vast minority) face the same negativity from many. When our Bishop some years back was charged and found guilty of accessing child porn - a dear and faithful Priest told the congregation that first he wanted to pray for all those who suffered at the hands of Priests, for all Catholics who suffered due to this, for the community who suffered due to this - but please remember so many good Priests who are being tarred with the same brush though they have honoured faithfully their vows. He was a young Priest who was very athletic and the young guys use to like to go golfing with him, he would attend their hockey games etc. It was all so wonderful for them and for him but he felt he had to stop because some who were members of the Parish were suspecting some wasn't right. How tragic. In my own Parish we have a dear Priest who is well past retirement age but is giving every bit of himself to our Parish and a Sister Parish he looks after. I know that he gives himself fully to both Parishes and takes very little time for himself. We are so blessed to have him and definitely keep him in our prayers. I will be passing this video along as I think you make some marvellous points as without Priests there will be no Sacraments and without the Sacraments there is no church. We need our Priests and should do everything we can to assist them and not add stress to their lives. God bless you.

Fr Mark. Mary, you're awesome. Thanks..

This video is beautiful! Thank you FR. Mark for this example of love for the priests who bring us Jesus on earth.

Gods blessing on you too.

Great video, wonderful message, thank you Father!

This was so inspirational! I emailed 2 Thank You notes as a result of this video - thank you and God bless you and your calling!

God Bless!! Yes I will start offering Mass for my Priest on Thursdays. He is precious and so are you!!!

We're a small church out in rural TN, and we have an AMAZING pastor. People bring him eggs, raw milk, homemade meals, take him out to eat.... the children simply love him, and he loves them back. We've all been blessed to have him with us.

Great video. Prayers for our priests. 🙏🏻

Thank you so very much for this good presentation--I really do appreciate these ideas and agree with you--our priests get so much criticism it breaks my heart. I will honor these good plans to support them--I don't know where we would be without them. Especially during these past 2 years with COVID--it has been hard for us, but multiply that by 100 for them--trying so hard to support us. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this beautiful reminder. Please also pray for our deceased priests, nuns, deacons, deacons wives and all religious.

I had no idea to consider doing those things! Can’t wait to share with the kids.

Thanks so much for reminding us about our Parish priests. We have an amazing parish priest, Father Peter who has a lot of health issues but never stops meeting the needs of the people of the parish. He has brought back traditions that we never knew existed until he showed us. We have adoration which is wonderful to have. I sometimes forget what he must be going through. GOD Bless You Father.

These are good thoughts and encouraging to hear! I bet the parish that you guys serve at is very appreciated!

Thank you Father. I want to share, my step dads testimony. his adopted son lite himself on fire to commit suicide, the preist refused last rites which greatly hurt my step dad dearly . Every Sunday he' still went to mass. Stayed being a knight of Columbus. other than an occasional eye roll at the mention of the preists name which happened at most 4x in 15 years. he never bad mouthed the preist Please pray for the repose of souls for father schepee. And for David Fuller and all victims of suicide. For the families of the lost may they be comforted.

Our Monsignor runs 4 churches. God will bless them abundantly now and eternity. I love the Franciscans.. I love praying with you guys everyday!

Thank you, Fr. Mark-Mary. I was just thinking about how/if I should help our Pastor.

After every mass ,we have this prayer for priests all over the world every single day. This sacrifice thing, we'll share the message with everyone. Lord, strengthen your church protect us and our priests from all the physical and spiritual problems.

So good of you to remind us! Thank you! I’m praying for you!

God bless you father! I needed to hear that! Our parish priest is holy and hard-working. He certainly needs our prayers and kind gestures! I will make more effort to let him know he is appropriated.

God bless you for this message, Father.

Thank you. What you say is so important. People always need to keep in mind that priests in general, and parish priests (shepherds of souls) in particular, are especially targeted by Satan and his minions, so prayer is so important.

What a wonderful reminder. My Pastor is tireless. God bless him and you for reminding me to pray for him and offer support.

Thank you, Father Mark-Mary! That's a very valuable suggestion. Bless you! 💐

Thank you so much Father!! I am always wondering how to help my parish priest. I always saw that he was super busy all the time and I never knew what to do. I will these things, even though I am shy.

Thanks so much, Father. As one of those diocesan priests you are speaking about I appreciate lifting up this topic.

Excellent, thank you for this!

I appreciate you sharing this. Thank you! ❤️

My father passed away last August. We had to bury him in the town he came from, and therefore we his family were not familiar with the priest. Father Francis was from Ghana, and he spoke English and Spanish very well. He gave my father an awesome mass and funeral service, and he was able to join us for a gathering afterwards. We were able to find out that he had 5 different parish churches he was going to have to be responsible for and it speaks to our shortage of priests, and lack of vocations. So since then I have started adding him to my daily prayers for priests. (Sister Faustina prayers for priests is a good one) But now after hearing this video I will add fasting for him too. Thank you!

Thank you: this is exactly what I needed to hear. I am blessed to know a couple amazing priests and always wondered in what ways I can help/support them.

Thank you 🙏 so much for reminding me to show support to our priest. He really does pour himself out for us. I promise to do better here.

Well said, Father Mark-Mary! Thanks for the inspiration and great ideas!

Good idea! My pastor is fabulous!

Here in our parish we tend to our church and our priests. We have our community meetings and manage the maintenance of the temple, the finances, activites, community issues, etc. They are at our meetings for guidance and advice. Nothing more. He is not there to be the president of the committee. He didn't study and was not ordained to do this. No need to stress him with things he is not equiped to handle (only a handful of people can anyway). They are at our birthday parties, our BBQs, our movie nights. We take them with us to the beach. We visit them and hang out a lot. They are never lonely... Their presence in our worldy activities makes them more meaningful and profound. But listening to you I now understand that THIS IS NOT ENOUGH. They are under spiritual attack, so they need our prayers and our sacrifices.

Great and very necessary video! Thank you, Father!

Thank you for reminding me why I converted, decades ago. Peace be with you.

Thank you for your very valuable thoughts and ideas Father!

The downside of lay involvement is some laity treat the priest as an employee, and some laity take on inappropriate levels of authority, in an opportunistic way. This is common in all volunteer orgs, people sometimes want to play a role they cannot play in "real" life, that they are not qualified for, and that other laity are too polite to call them out on. Thank you for this wonderful video, it is very much needed.

Consider it done Fr. Mark Mary, I was actually praying and considering writing letters and this was certainly confirming.

Thank you Fr. Mark Mary for this wonderful video! I do pray daily for both of our Priests here in Michigan. I am probably old enough to be your mother, but I see you genuine concern. I pray for all Priests😀🙏📿 I wish I could take any and all the pain away. Stay focused stay strong and know I am praying for you. I love your name (My godsons name). Your genuineness is so refreshing, a Priest from Gods own💓💞

Dear Fr. Mark, Thank you for the most beautiful message! I will make sure tho share these with parish. Our priests work so hard and they truly need our support, understanding and prayers. I never thought of giving up something, and this is something I can do! Thank you and God bless you!

So good of you to remind us! Thank you! I’m praying for you! May the good Lord richly bless and encourage our priests of Ascension Presents in Jesus name! Amen!

Thank you so much for this talk, video . You are so right we need to pray for our Priests every single day . Thank you and God Bless !!

Love, love, love this . Will do what it recommends and share it💕

this was very helpful. thank you ❤

Loved this!

Thank you for the reminder! God bless you and Happy Easter!

This is an important message for all. I am a deep believer of all this stuff and thank u for saying it

It's the same in the UK. Our priests are so stretched. I did a bit of temporary administration for a priest while he was waiting for the new permanent secretary to start and the poor man was clearly on the edge mentally.

Thank you for this video, its a reminder that our parish priests and pastors needs support morally and prayers which is the very least we can do for them, if nothing else...

Thank you, Father! This was very informative... I will use your suggestions. God bless! I pray for our Pope and all priests every day! God bless!

Infeel so bad i never realised that they sometimes get treated so badly, i’m gonna make a promise that i will spend as much on catholicism as i spend on myself, wether it be donating to churches, buying gifts for priests or anything remotely like that i shall.

Thank you so much for this reminder, but especially for the tips. We all absolutely need to be more supportive of our pastors but often struggle with how. May God bless you and your brothers.

I was thinking about this when returning from Mass today.

Thank you, Fr. Mark Mary. Excellent reminder.

Diocesan Priest are like, ‘whoa! Whoa! Do not knock the cookies.’ I’ve seen some of the purest and happiest smiles from Priests walking away with the Easter and Christmas cookies. 🥰💒

Absolutely true!!! A great prayer resource is a book "Praying for Priests" by Kathleen Beckman!!! ❤🙏❤

Thank you very much! So relevant and needed.

Thank you for this reminder Fr. Mark.

Thanks for this enlightening reflection

Thank you so much for this wonderful video and tips to support our priest! We found it so helpful and thank you for all you do. We will be praying for you! We hope you have a wonderful Holy week, lots of love from our Catholic family ♥️