Mother of our Redeemer,
in this era dedicated to you,
with great joy we call you blessed.
You believed in the Word of God the father
and declared yourself His handmaid,
and so, through you,
the Word became flesh,
and dwelt among us.
We salute you as Mother, our Mother,
the Mother of the Church.
With what great love you must have watched over the infant Church
and what motherly solicitude encouraged the apostles
as they committed themselves to carry on the work
of Your Divine Son on earth.
Make the Church ever to be the sign and instrument
of intimate union with God.
To you, our Mother,
we entrust in a special way our Bishop and the priests of our diocese.
To them has been given a special sharing
in the priesthood of Your Divine Son.
He has chosen them to be ministers of His Word and Sacrament.
Ask Him to fill them with zeal,
to keep them faithful and joyful in His service,
conscious of the fact that they care
and so bring glory to the father
and honor to the Church.
Holy Mother, increase the ranks of our priests
by inspiring our young people to be more generous
in their response to serve Jesus in the priesthood
and in religious life.
Sustain all of us, O Virgin Mary,
on our journey of faith
and obtain for us the grace of eternal salvation.