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June 11, 2024
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On the evening of Friday, June 7 — the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — members of the Thomas Aquinas College community on both coasts prayed the Holy Rosary for the sanctification of priests.

The gathering marked the conclusion of WorldPriest’s 14th annual Global Rosary Relay, an international prayer chain in which members of the faithful across the world take turns praying a designated set of mysteries, thereby encircling the planet in prayer for 24 hours. Thomas Aquinas College was blessed this year to serve once again as the last leg of the relay, spiritually delivering the world’s prayers to the Blessed Mother from its chapels in California and New England.

The observance began, in California, with that evening’s 5:00 p.m. Mass, after which Chaplain Rev. Jorge Lopez exposed the Blessed Sacrament for Adoration in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. Meanwhile, 3,000 miles to the east, New England’s Head Chaplain, Rev. Greg Markey, was likewise leading exposition, and members of the faithful came to worship Our Eucharistic Lord in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel.

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At 6:45 p.m. PT / 9:45 p.m. ET, the College accepted the spiritual baton from Cathedral Parish in Fargo, North Dakota, whose members had just completed praying the Glorious Mysteries. In California, senior Alexander Roberts led a number of the College’s summer student workers, faculty, staff, alumni, and their families in the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries. At the same time, Fr. Markey led the recitation in New England.

Meanwhile, friends of the College across the country and the world added their prayers. In total, more than 300 congregations participated in the Rosary Relay in more than 85 countries and on 6 continents. The prayers were offered to God in thanksgiving for all priests, as well as to seek the loving care of Our Lady for her priestly sons.

At the conclusion of the Rosary, the priests in both of the College’s chapels offered His Holiness Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's Prayer for Priests, specially composed for WorldPriest. “Eternal High Priest, you offered yourself to the Father on the altar of the Cross and, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, gave your priestly people a share in your redeeming sacrifice,” they began. “Let them be shepherds according to your own Heart, single minded in service to you and to the Church and shining examples of a holy, simple, and joyful life.”