Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

A reader writes:

First a BIG thank you to all of you who prayed for me to find gainful employment, today (Thursday) is the third week anniversary of getting hired and my new job is absolutely fabulous, I’m receiving constant plaudits from my superiors (that’s everyone else in the office as well as members of senior management who visit the office on a regular basis) and I’m enjoying the feeling that comes from doing a hard day’s work (as I cycle into work I pray for a busy day) and being in work has given me the confidence to recognise that I can excel at anything that I turn my hand to.

This brings me to my prayer request, I have thought about studying for a Masters Degree in my spare time (via distance learning) and I know that I could progress rapidly within the company with whom I am currently employed; or after completing a Masters Degree I could turn my hand to teaching, run for political office or even join Her Majesties Revenue and Customs (the English equivalent of the IRS) on their annual graduate training scheme to recruit Tax inspectors. However my foremost desire is to be a Priest of Jesus Christ True God and True Man, to offer the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to hear the confessions of his flock.

I know a very Holy Priest whom I love very dearly as a Father and I hope that I will be there praying the Rosary with him as he dies, I desire even more to repay the fatherly love he has for me by being the one to hear his last confession, to anoint with the Holy Oils of the Last Sacraments and to be the one to commend his soul to God at his Requiem Mass.

Right now a choice lies before me, to rise in the world of work, politics or academia; or to channel that potential into being a Priest, one who is often unnoticed by the world as he walks quickly through the rain to grant God’s absolution to some poor sinner who is not long for this life (think Lord Marchmain from Brideshead Revisited), President Reagan once wrote in a letter to a Lance Corporal that “Some people work an entire lifetime and wonder if they ever made a difference to the world. But the Marines don’t have that problem” I would add that no Priest who is faithful to his vocation has that problem either. Could I ask for you to pray to Jesus (and his Mother) begging them to grant me a Priestly vocation?

Father, thank you for giving your servant work. Hear our prayer for guidance for your servant, that he may find the place you wish him to be and serve you there with the help of your grace. Mother Mary and St. Joseph, pray for him. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Another reader writes:

Could you please post a prayer request for a friend of mine who is trapped under mounting debt payments and is considering default, because she can’t find a new job that pays enough to stay afloat? I guess, first, that she’d find a way to make the payments more manageable without defaulting, and secondly, that she’d be able to find employment that better suits her education and abilities.

Father, hear our prayer for this person, that they can find the providence they need from your hand. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Another reader writes:

We are requesting prayers for our friend. She is a diabetic and has pneumonia. The doctors cannot get her pneumonia under control and she is hospitalized in critical condition and on a ventilator. Please pray for her recovery and for strength for her husband and daughter.

Father, hear our prayer for her complete healing. Give her caregivers skill, wisdom and compassion to bring this illness under control and grant all who love her grace, strength and peace through your Son Jesus Christ. Mother Mary and St. Luke, pray for her. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen!

Finally, a reader has this awesome praise report:

A few months ago I had asked you and your readers to pray for a homeschooling father of seven with stage-four cancer. Today we heard that his doctors are “astounded and very excited” because they now find no sign of cancer activity, only “dead,” totally inactive cancer cells. They are doing plenty of follow-up, just to make sure, but this was very unexpected. Thank you so much!

Wow! Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ!