Celebrate, pray for priests, bishop urges
JACKSON — Bishop Joseph Latino asks all Catholics to make the celebration of Corpus Christi this weekend, Friday - Sunday, June 12-14, a time of prayer for vocations in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
It is the weekend before the opening of the Year for Priests, June 19, 2009 — June 19, 2010, declared by Pope Benedict XVI.
In the Diocese of Jackson the year will be officially opened at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 21, with the celebration of Solemn Evening Prayer in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle.
“I ask all our Catholic faithful in the diocese to devote some extra time on June 19 (Friday) to pray for our priests,” said Bishop Latino in the May 22 Mississippi Catholic.
Bishop Latino also invited everyone to the opening celebration at 6 p.m. Sunday to “pray together with me in support of our priests.”
At noon on Friday, June 12, he will lead an adapted version of the traditional Forty Hours devotion beginning with the celebration of the Eucharist followed by Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
The weekend celebration will close at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 14, with a procession and Mass.
Evening prayer at 6 p.m. Friday, June 12, will consist of psalms, readings, hymns, prayers and the singing of the Magnificat (Song of Mary) by cantors and the congregation.
Saturday begins with the exposition and adoration of the Eucharist at 8 a.m.
At noon the Pueri Cantores Choir, the children’s choir from St. Richard Parish, will present a concert of sacred music in the cathedral.
The choir will sing a series of hymns including “Pange Lingua,” “Adoro Te Devote,” “Salve Regina” and “Lauda Sion,” the sequence from the Corpus Christi Mass.
Reposition of the Eucharist will be at 10 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.
Sunday’s 10 a.m. Mass will begin with an outdoor eucharistic procession led by Bishop Latino.
Also participating will be the Knights of Peter Claver and the Knights of Columbus, their Ladies Auxiliaries, and the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher.
Bishop Latino said Pope Benedict declared the Year for Priests to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, the patron of priests.
“June 19, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has been declared a day of prayer for the sanctity of priests throughout the world,” he said.
A plenary indulgence is being offered during the Year for Priests, June 19, 2009 – June 19, 2010.
A plenary indulgence can be obtained on the opening and closing days of the Year for Priests; Aug. 4, 2009, the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney; and on the first Thursday of each month.
In the Diocese of Jackson an indulgence also can be obtained on Sept. 15, 2009, Our Lady of Sorrows and Feb. 22, 2010, the Chair of St. Peter.
Bishop Latino said, “I invite everyone to come and share in this weekend at the cathedral and encourage all parishes and missions to offer a local time of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for the faithful to come and pray for vocations and the needs of the church.
“Let us use this time and indeed the entire Year for Priests to reinvigorate our dedication to the sacrament of the Eucharist in all its sacredness and to join our hearts and prayers together as a diocesan family gathered around this most Blessed Sacrament in prayer for vocations to serve our church now and in the years to come,” he said.
