May God send us many holy Priests! We should pray for Priests every day, but traditionally the Ember Days are set aside for Ordinations and for special prayers for Priests.
From Aleteia
By Philip Kosloski
The Church has a long tradition of praying for priests four times a year.
An ancient liturgical tradition in the Western (Latin) Catholic Church revolves around the changing of the four seasons and consists of three days set apart for fasting and prayer. In English they are known as “Ember Days” and have been celebrated by the Church for centuries.
These special days of fasting were established very early in the Church and consist of a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at the beginning of each season (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter). This year the Spring Ember Days fall on February 21, 23, and 24.
Traditionally, ordinations to the priesthood and diaconate were celebrated during Ember Days, and the faithful were urged to offer their fasting and prayers for those to be ordained. Eventually ordinations were held at different times of the year, but the laity were still encouraged to pray and offer sacrifices for priests during Ember Days.
A catechism from 1899 elaborates on this traditional feature of Ember Days.
It is the duty of the faithful to pray God to send them good priests. Our Lord says: “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His harvest” (Matt. ix. 38). Remember that a priest is the salvation or the perdition of his flock. In the Old Testament we read that when other scourges were of no avail to turn the people, hardened in sin, from their evil ways, God sent upon them the heaviest scourge of all, wicked and corrupt priests. Let us therefore make it our continual prayer, that we may have good priests. The Ember days are appointed for this purpose.
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