The entrustment of priests to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The entrustment of priests to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Pope Benedict XVI at Fatima, 13 May 2010.
Immaculate Mother, in this place of grace, gathered together by the love of your Son Jesus, the Most High and Eternal Priest, we, sons in the Son and his priests, consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart, in order to carry out faithfully the Father's will.
We know that without Jesus we can do nothing good (cf. Jn 15, 5) and that only through him, with him and in him will we be instruments of salvation for the world. Bride of the Holy Spirit, obtain for us the inestimable gift of transformation in Christ. Help us and grant that, through the same power of the Spirit who overshadowed you and made you the Mother of the Saviour, your Son Christ may be born also in us. May the Church be thus renewed by holy priests, transfigured by the grace of him who makes all things new.
Mother of Mercy, it was your Son Jesus who called us to become, like him, the light of the world and the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5, 13-14). Help us by your powerful intercession never to fall short of this sublime vocation, never to give way to our selfishness, to the flattery of the world or to the whisperings of the Evil One. Preserve us by your purity, guard us by your humility and enfold us in your maternal love, which is reflected in so many souls consecrated to you, who have become for us true spiritual mothers.
Mother of the Church, we priests want to be shepherds who do not feed themselves, but who give themselves to God for their brethren, finding their happiness in this. We want to say humbly, day after day, our «here I am», not only in words but in the life of every day. Guided by you, we want to be apostles of Divine Mercy, glad to celebrate every day the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar and to offer to those who ask it of us the sacrament of reconciliation. Advocate and Mediatrix of grace, you who are wholly taken up into the one universal mediation of Christ, obtain for us from God a completely renewed heart, one that will love God with all its strength and serve humanity as you served. Repeat to the Lord your persuasive words: «they have no more wine», (Jn 2, 3) so that the Father and the Son may pour out upon us the Holy Spirit, as in a new outpouring. Your constant presence among us fills me with wonder and gratitude, and so, in the name of all priests, I too wish to cry out: «And why is this granted me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?» (Lk 1, 43). Our Mother from all time, do not cease to «visit» us, to console us and to sustain us. Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger. By this act of entrustment and consecration we express our desire that you may dwell in a deeper and more radical way, for ever and completely, in our human and priestly lives. May your presence make the desert of our loneliness blossom and the sun shine over our darkness, may it make calm return after the storm, so that every person may see the salvation of the Lord, who has the name and the face of Jesus, reflected in our hearts, united for ever with yours! May it be so! Amen.
