Dear Priests,

In this special time of Grace the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Icon and Model of the Church, wants us to be introduced to that vigilance which is the constant attitude of Her Immaculate heart.

In fact, the Virgin lived constantly in prayerful vigilance. In vigilance, She received the announcement that changed the history of humanity. In vigilance, She kept and contemplated, more than any other, the Almighty who became her Son. In vigilance, filled with loving and grateful wonder, She gave birth to the Light Himself and, together with St Joseph, became a disciple of He to whom She had given birth. He was adored by the shepherds and the kings, welcomed in jubilation by Simeon and the prophetess Anna, feared by the doctors in the temple, loved and followed by the disciples and opposed and condemned by His people.

In the vigilance of her maternal heart, Mary followed Christ right up to the foot of the cross where, in the immense sorrow of a pierced heart, She accepted us as her new sons. In vigilance, She waited with certainty for the Resurrection and was Assumed into Heaven.
Dearest friends, Christ constantly watches over His Church and over every one of us! We are all called to enter into that vigilance, that passionate observation of reality that moves us between two fundamental directions: the recollection of meeting Christ in our lives and the great mystery of being His priests and the openness to the 'category of possibility'.

The Virgin Mary, was in fact 'recollected', which means that in her heart She constantly relived what God had done for Her and, in the certainty of this reality, She lived the duty of being the Mother of the Almighty. The Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, was then constantly willing and open to the 'possible', to that materialisation of God's Will in daily circumstances and also in those that are most unexpected.

Also today, from heaven, the Virgin keeps us in Christ's living memory and continually opens the possibility of Divine Mercy to us.

Dearest Brothers and Friends, let us ask Her for a heart that is able to relive Christ's coming in our lives, a heart able to contemplate the way in which the Son of God, on the day of our Ordination, radically and definitely marked our entire existence immerging us in His priestly heart. He renews us daily in the Eucharistic Celebration so that our own lives become transfigured into Christ's coming for humanity.

Finally, let us ask for an attentive heart able to recognise the signs of Jesus' coming in the lives of every man, especially to the young who are entrusted to us, so that we are able to recognise the sign of that special coming which is the vocation to the Priesthood.
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Priests and Queen of the Apostles, always grants those humble requests for that priestly paternity which is the only thing able to "accompany" the youth on the joyful and enthusiastic journey to follow Christ.

In the "Yes" of the Annunciation, we are also encouraged to be coherent to the "Yes" of our ordination. In the Visitation to Saint Elisabeth, we are encouraged to live that divine intimacy in order to bring Christ's presence to the others and to translate it into joyful service without the limits of time and space. In the Holy Mother's act of wrapping the Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes and adoring Him, we learn to treat the Most Holy Eucharist with an ineffable love. By conserving every event within our own hearts, we learn from Mary how to gather around the Only Necessity.

With these sentiments I assure all the dear Priests around the world of a special remembrance in the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries. I ask everyone for the prayerful support for the ministry that was entrusted to me and, before the crib, let us implore the ability to become that what we are every day.

[Translation provided by the Congregation for the Clergy]