Pope Benedict XVI: Mary and the priesthood

Other bloggers have already highlighted Pope Benedict's General Audience address on the Virgin Mary and the priesthood, given in the light of the Solemnity of the Assumption and the Year for Priests. Having now had reason to attempt a translation from the Italian (come back from holiday, ZENIT!), I post that translation. It is a very beautiful piece of writing/speaking. The translation is my own, and will be imperfect in places.

The celebration of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is imminent, this coming Saturday, and we are in the context of the Year for Priests; therefore I wish to speak of the link between the Madonna and the priesthood. It is a profound link rooted in the mystery of the Incarnation. When God decided to make himself man in his Son, he needed the freely given “Yes” of his creature. God does not act against our liberty. A truly extraordinary thing follows: God makes himself dependent on the liberty, on the “Yes” of his creature; he waits for this “Yes”. St Bernard of Clairvaux, in one of his homilies, explained in a dramatic way this decisive moment in universal history, where heaven, earth and even God waited on what this creature would say.

The “Yes” of Mary is consequently the gate through which God is enabled to enter into the world, to make himself man. In this way Mary is truly and deeply involved in the mystery of the Incarnation, of our salvation. And the Incarnation, the making himself man of the Son, was from the beginning destined towards the gift of himself; to the giving of himself with much love in the Cross, to make himself bread for the life of the world. In this way, sacrifice, priesthood and Incarnation go together and Mary is at the centre of this mystery.

Let us go now to the Cross. Jesus, before he died, saw the Mother beneath the Cross; and he saw the beloved son and this beloved son certainly is a person, a very important individual, but he is more than this: he is an example, a prefiguration of all the loved disciples, of all the people called by the Lord to be “the beloved disciple” and, consequently, in a particular way also of priests. Jesus said to Mary: “Mother behold your son”. It is a type of testament: giving his Mother to the care of the son, of the disciple. But he says also to the disciple: “Behold your mother”. The Gospel says that from this moment St John, the beloved son, took the mother Mary “into his own home”. This is the Italian translation; but the Greek text is much more profound, much richer. We can translate it: he took Mary into the depth of his life, of his being, “eis ta idia”, into the profundity of his being. Taking Mary with him, means introducing her into the dynamism of his whole existence - it is not an exterior thing - it has to do with everything that makes up the horizon of his own apostolate. It seems to me that we see here how the special relationship of maternity existing between Mary and presbyters constitutes the primary source, the fundamental reason for the predilection that feeds each of them. Mary loves them in fact for two reasons: because they are closer to Jesus, highest love of her heart, and because they are also, like Her, engaged in the mission of proclaiming, of witnessing to and of giving Christ to the world. By their own identification and sacramental conformation to Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, every priest can and must feel themselves to be truly beloved by this most high and most humble Mother.

The Second Vatican Council invites priests to look to Mary as the perfect model of their own existence, invoking her as “Mother of the high and eternal Priest, Queen of Apostles, Help of priests in their ministry”. And priests - the Council continues - “must therefore venerate her and love her with devotion and a filial cult”. (cf Presbyterorum Ordinis n.18). The Holy Cure of Ars, of whom we particularly think during this year, loved to repeat: “Jesus Christ, after having given everything to them that he could give them, still wanted to make them heirs of what he held to be most precious, that is to say, his Holy Mother” (B Nodet Il pensiero e l’anima del Curato d’Ars, Torino 1967, p.305). This applies to all Christians, to all of us, but in a special way to priests. Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray that Mary enables all priests, in all the problems of today’s world, to be conformed to the image of her Son Jesus, distributor of the inestimable treasures of the love of the good Shepherd. Mary, Mother of priests, pray for us!

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I offer a warm welcome to the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Audience, including the Sisters of Saint Anne, the altar servers from Malta, and the pilgrims from Australia and the United States of America. As the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin draws near in this Year of the Priest, my catechesis today is centered on Mary the Mother of priests. She looks upon them with special affection as her sons. Indeed, their mission is similar to hers; priests are called to bring forth Christ’s saving love into the world. On the cross, Jesus invites all believers, especially his closest disciples, to love and venerate Mary as their mother. Let us pray that all priests will make a special place for the Blessed Virgin in their lives, and seek her assistance daily as they bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus. Upon you and your families I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!