With the inestimable grace of the priest’s ordination, we presbyters enter a totally new dimension of being and living in Christ our Saviour.

A priest must be conscious that he is man entirely consecrated to the glory of the Father, anointed by the Holy Spirit and therefore conformed to the priestly dimension of Christ, Supreme and Eternal priest.

To Him the priest consecrates his entire humanity. The total consecration of oneself is certainly not a repression of one’s humanity, but rather the complete donation, body and soul to the Lord Jesus, so as to live totally orientated towards God and eternal life. The priest however must each day conquer space for a profound intimacy with the mystery itself of his own vocation, with the priestly ministry that he has received from the hands of the Bishop and that binds him indissolubly to the eucharistic mystery.

The priest however needs to make a constant effort of prayer, of living in the presence of God, which also envisages a constant supervision of himself and a spiritual battle that awaits him daily, because one must decide each single day to "lose one’s own life".

Living in the world and yet not belonging to the world, according to Jesus’ words "you are in the world but you are not of this world", the priest who really whishes to be transformed in Christ, mainly draws from the Most Holy Eucharist the strength to overcome himself, and like John, he trusts in and consecrates himself to the Mother of God, so as to remain faithful to his role within the Church: interceding with Mary at the feet of the Cross for the salvation of the world.

A priest’s spirituality must be principally eucharistic, concentrated on the main mystery of our redemption, the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ offered for us and this spirituality must also be deeply Marian.

The Holy Father John Paul II, has often attracted our attention to the presence of the Very Holy Virgin Mary during Holy Mass. He said: "when we celebrate Holy Mass, together with us is the Mother of the Son of God who introduces us to the mystery of His offering of redemption. In this way She becomes mediatrix for the graces that flow from this offering for the Church and for all the faithful" (JOHN PAUL II, on the occasion of the liturgical commemoration for the Virgin Mary of Czestochowa, from the "L’Osservatore Romano", August 26^th 2001).

Today more than ever, the priest must recover his own priestly dimension, his own identity, supported by a rich eucharistic and Marian spirituality, that helps one to live the "Holy exchange", the transformation in Christ of the whole of oneself: we give to Christ the little that we are, so as to receive in exchange He Himself. A act of God’s everlasting totally gratuitous mercy, established by His divine Will.