Cardinal Piacenza's Message for Christmas.

Cardinal Piacenza receiving the red hat in November.

Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, the new Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, wrote to priests and deacons for Christmas stressing the need to take heart and continue in faithfulness to the message of Christ that will always bear fruit, even when it seems all is lost. I particularly liked his reminder that the Priesthood is ontological, that we go on being who we are, doing our usual duties and these will avail us and others of salvation. As the Church in the Western world shrinks, it is tempting to many to throw themselves into ever more outlandish schemes and compromises with the world but these burn themselves out and cannot last. Nothing is so old-fashioned as the most recent fashion to go out of date. We are called back to our roots and to the business of being holy. The Cardinal says: "The Church has nothing more to do than to go on in her own proper duties, in confidence and peace; to stand still and to see the salvation of God."

Our success cannot be counted in numbers but in souls that are actually led to Heaven. I seem to come across many Catholics who are so in name but hold views diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Church, not just on one issue but in many areas. Others who have little clue of the teaching of the Church or of Our Lord in the Gospels. I'm reminded of the case of the lady who, having heard the late Cardinal O'Connor of New York preaching on the Gospel forbidding divorce took him to task after Mass demanding to know "Who said so?". When the good Cardinal told her that it was Our Lord who said it she replied irately, "Well, he shouldn't have!"

I think the Cardinal reminds us of some excellent points.
Here is the article with my own highlights.

Dear Priests and Deacons,

At this time, when the Holy Father has graciously named me as the new Prefect, I would like to take the opportunity to convey a cordial greeting to each and every one of you.

The Year for Priests, recently brought to a conclusion, remains always before us, both in its content and in its model of sanctity, St John Mary Vianney. With regard to its content, it is to be fully assimilated into the environment of the formation of the Clergy, both in the initial and ongoing stages, especially concerning to the central place it wished to recognise of the Eucharist, celebrated and adored; with regard to the model of sanctity that was offered, the heroic participation of the Curé of Ars in the self-giving of Christ for the life of men shines forth, and that witness spurs us continually to offer ourselves to the Lord in the "fragrant sacrifice".

Even in the face of the storm of the "worldly sea," Jesus of Nazareth repeats to his disciples, "Do not be afraid!" To the temptation of activism and of the fitful searching after solutions that are human, and all too human, He beckons us gently, "Remain in my love" (Jn 15: 9).

As the Holy Father Benedict XVI pointed out, "If we continue to read this Gospel passage attentively, we also find a second imperative: "abide", and "observe my commandments". "Observe" only comes second. "Abide" comes first, at the ontological level, namely that we are united with him, he has given himself to us beforehand and has already given us his love, the fruit. It is not we who must produce the abundant fruit; Christianity is not moralism, it is not we who must do all that God expects of the world but we must first of all enter this ontological mystery: God gives himself. His being, his loving, precedes our action and, in the context of his Body, in the context of being in him, being identified with him and ennobled with his Blood, we too can act with Christ" (Allocution at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, 12 February 2010).

Dear friends, it is precisely this primacy of the ontological over the ethical, of the "abiding" over the "doing" that is the guarantee, and the only guarantee possible, of the fruitfulness of our apostolate!

In the face of prevailing secularism and rampant relativism, Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman reminds us that, "Christianity has been too often in what seemed deadly peril, that we should fear for it any new trial now. So far is certain; on the other hand, what is uncertain, and in these great contests commonly is uncertain, and what is commonly a great surprise, when it is witnessed, is the particular mode by which, in the event, Providence rescues and saves His elect inheritance. Sometimes our enemy is turned into a friend; sometimes he is despoiled of that special virulence of evil which was so threatening; sometimes he falls to pieces of himself; sometimes he does just so much as is beneficial, and then is removed. Commonly the Church has nothing more to do than to go on in her own proper duties, in confidence and peace; to stand still and to see the salvation of God" (Biglietto Speech, 12 May 1879).

With these sentiments of profound, radical fidelity to the Lord in the Church and in history, in the Lord of my and of your sacerdotal existence, I ask a particular remembrance in your prayers, while I assure you of my pastoral concern, entrusting each one of you to the powerful protection of Her who, by virtue of a most special title, is the Mother of Priests: the Blessed Virgin Mary.

You can read it on Zenit here:

http://www.zenit.org/article-31338?l=english