Have you thanked your priest lately?

Did you know that the good Catholic Priest is an endangered species?
Every time I talk with our Novus Ordo friends I am reminded of this.
We all know the abuses that go on in the Catholic Church today. A good priest has to fight hard to stay faithful.
A priest must give up the possibility of ever having a family in order to dedicate himself to the salvation of souls. Some may scoff...."Oh, they have it easy"....but you don't see these people rushing off to join the seminary.
The fact is, it's a lonely life. A husband and father has his consolation from the love and support of his family, whereas a priest walks the royal way of the cross alone.
True, a good priest will seek fcomfort from the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady, but priests are human too, and subject to discouragement.
A priest is our lifeline. Where would we be without our priests? They bring heaven to earth through the Mass. If it wasn't for the Holy Sacrifice being offered around the world, God would have destroyed it long ago.
The priest has the God given power to forgive sins.
Our Lord gave this power to His Apostles the first time He saw them after He rose from the dead....as if He couldn't wait to give us this precious first fruit of His Redemption,

He breathed on them; and He said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain they are retained" (Jn 22-23)

What would we do without confession? What a mercy of God...but we need a generous man who is willing to give up his life so that we may have a priests to give us absolution.
The Mass as propitiatory sacrifice, confession,  Holy Communion- God Himself as food for our souls. All these great graces Our Lord gave to
us would not be available without a priest.
The priest is with us from cradle to grave, ready to help us, with the sacraments, teaching and advice

Forget those ridiculous Marvel comic heroes... imaginary superpowers don't come close to the real powers which God has given a priest.
They are the world's real superheroes.

There is that story of the saint who could see his guardian angel. Every time he entered a room, he would let his angel pass before him.
The day came when the saint was ordained a priest. At the first doorway, he stepped aside to let his angel pass, but his angel would not move. Instead, his angel bowed and told him to enter first, since as a priest, his dignity was greater!
(Emily Post moment....should anyone meet an angel and a priest at the same time, it is proper decorum to salute the priest first!!!.........would an angel say the same thing to a king? After all, his power is only earthly)

So a priest has the highest dignity and power on earth...yet he is still human and subject to human frailty. Not only that, but given that the priest is the one most responsible for rescuing souls from the devil he is the most hated by the powers of darkness. All of hell is unleashed on our priests and there is nothing that gives the devil more satisfaction than bringing about the ruin of a good priest.

Catholics know all this. I have written nothing new.
So, given that;
1) in large part we owe the salvation of our souls to a priest
2) good priests are very rare
3) good priests are human and subject to human frailty
4) the powers of darkness with their superior intellects are hell bent on destroying them

Wouldn't it be a very very good idea that we;
1) Pray for our priests and
2) Be the family that they have given up by our encouragement and support?

Good priests sometimes make mistakes. True. And it is at those times that we can make a small return to them by extending our mercy and grace in exchange for the many times they give us God's mercy and grace in confession.

May God bless all our precious priests!