Letter to mothers of priests
and seminarians
on the occasion of the
solemnity of Mary Mother
Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy
Notes Role of Family in Forming Vocations
Writing on the occasion of the solemnity of
Mary Mother of God (January 1), Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy,
Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, addressed a letter to mothers of priests and
seminarians.
"In welcoming the Eternal Word into her
immaculate womb," he wrote, "Mary Most Holy gave birth to the Eternal
High Priest, Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world… By adhering to God's
Will, Mary participated in a unique and unrepeatable way in the mystery of our
redemption, thereby becoming the Mother of God, the Gate of Heaven and the
Cause of our Joy."
Cardinal Piacenza continued: "In a similar
way, the entire Church looks with admiration and deep gratitude upon all
mothers of priests and of those who, having received this lofty vocation, have
embarked upon the path of formation."
Cardinal Piacenza noted the role of the family
in helping young men to be receptive to the call of the priesthood. In
particular, he continued, "the participation given to mothers of priests
is quite unique and special. For unique and special are the spiritual
consolations which they derive from having carried in the womb one who has
become Christ's minister. Indeed, every mother cannot but rejoice in seeing the
life of her son not only fulfilled but also clothed with a most exceptional
divine favor which embraces and transforms it for all eternity."
Even though the separation between a mother and
her son is more "radical than any other separation," he continued,
"the Church's two thousand years of experience teaches us that when a man
is ordained a priest, his mother 'receives' him an a completely new and
unexpected way; so much so that she is called to see in the fruit of her own
womb a "father" who by God's will is called to generate and accompany
a multitude of brothers and sisters to eternal life. Every mother of a priest
mysteriously becomes a 'daughter of her son.' Towards him, she may therefore
also exercise a new motherhood through the discreet yet extremely efficacious
and inestimably precious closeness of prayer, and by offering of her own life
for the ministry of her son."
"This new 'fatherhood' - for which the
Seminarian is prepared, which the priest has been given, and which benefits all
God's People - needs to be accompanied by assiduous prayer and personal
sacrifice, in order that a priest's free adherence to the divine will may continually
be renewed and strengthened, that he may never tire in the battle of faith, and
that he may unite his own life ever more completely to the Sacrifice of Christ
the Lord."
Cardinal Piacenza concludes: "Mothers of
priests and seminarians thus represent a true and veritable 'army,' which from
earth offers prayers and sacrifice to heaven, and from heaven intercedes in
even greater number so that every grace and blessing may be poured out upon the
lives of the Church's sacred ministers."
Ann Schneible
ROME, January 3, 2013 (Zenit.org).