Our Beloved Catholic Priests

Recently, I had some binary interaction with two Catholic priests, Father Terry, and Father John Abberton, over their comments to the first and second articles that I have recently posted on "True Life In God", the messages of Jesus, and Mary to Vassula Ryden, and to all of us.

Father Terry, Editor at CatholicCanada.com  pointed out the 1995 report of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faiths which was critical of Vassula for a number of reasons that were articulated at the time.  However, as usual there is far more to the story than just that notification.  There was and continues to be considerable dialogue between the CDF and Mrs. Ryden, and much of that correspondence can be viewed here.  Having read much of the book, as a continuing journey of personal faith, and the 1995 report of the CDF, it appears to me that they have very little intersection.  I am not sure what the CDF was writing about, but apparently nobody there has read the book - Just my opinion.
Then, of course there is the little matter in the "True Life in God" manuscripts of the nihil obstat and imprimatur.

There are also such things as the testimony of  retired Bishop Joao Evangelista Terra, S.J. from Brazil, who for ten years was Auxiliary Bishop of Brasilia until he retired in 2004.  Here is a brief interview with him about True Life in God.  From his many years of working with then Cardinal Ratzinger, her had this to say, which is in the interview:

I worked for about ten years with Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome, at the Pontifical Commission. And then at times I had the opportunity as consultant, to be involved on Vassula's work and that Notification was not from the Cardinal. And when I spoke with the Cardinal and asked him about Vassula's work he replied to me in German: "Continue to practice always with great confidence, remain in peace and be prudent. Relax, everything is ok."

Regardless, there is something important that comes from reading True Life in God, several things actually.  If one reads True Life in God with an open heart, a challenge for most of us earthlings, and if one reads as Jesus requests the reader to do, by replacing the name Vassula with the reader's own, then some amazing things start to happen.  Here is just one of them.
My prayer partners and I began praying in earnest for the sacerdotals (priests) among us.  By their commitment to undertake to present, with and for us, the source and summit of the Catholic faith, the Eucharist, they become the sworn enemies of Satan, the evil deceiver.  That makes them subject to serious attack, and Satan knows their individual weaknesses better than they do.  Though they are men committed to serving God, they are men, and as such are sinners, like you and me. 
When they fall, as a not insignificant number did, into areas of sexual sin with minors, their sin is magnified by the media, and takes on a life of its own. There is a serious bias in the media against the Catholic Church, though media members would not admit it, of course.  Our mere mortal methods of pointing out the truth about the pervasiveness of the scandal across all men in all walks of life, and in higher proportions than in the Catholic Church fall on deaf ears.

BUT, our prayers do not.  Our Saviour's cup of wrath against this perverse generation is ready to overflow, but the cup of His mercy is larger still, and it is filled with the prayers and sacrifices of His children. 

One of the prayers that Jesus calls us to pray in True Life in God is the Novena of Confidence to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as follows:

O Lord, Jesus Christ, to Your Most Sacred Heart I confide this intention. (Here mention your request). 

Only look upon me, then do what Your Heart inspires, Let Your Sacred Heart decide, I count on it, I trust in it, I throw myself on Its Mercy.Lord Jesus You will not fail me. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Thy love for me. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom Come.O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have asked for many favours, but I earnestly implore this one.Take it, place it in Thy Sacred Heart. When the Eternal Father sees it covered with Thy Precious Blood, He will not refuse it. It will be no longer my prayer but Thine, O Jesus. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee. Let me never be confounded. Amen.

My morning prayer partners and I have made the continual growth in holiness of all Catholic priests, and reverence for the Holy Eucharist an ongoing intention. 

As the times get tougher for our priests, and they will, as the world spins away from faith in God even further, they are in need of our prayer support. 
I urge anyone who reads this to adopt all priests they know, or know of in their prayers, and lift them up to the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, in the Power of the Holy Spirit.