Almighty God, You have granted Your Church the light and strength to accompany humanity on its earthly journey towards its eternal destiny. In this Third Millennium too, the Church will be faithful in making man’s way her own, knowing that she does not walk alone, but with Christ her Lord. It is Christ who made man’s way his own, and who guides him, even when he is unaware of it.

Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer, you constantly remained beside Christ in his journey towards the human family and in its midst, and you go before the Church on the pilgrimage of faith. May your maternal intercession accompany humanity in this Millennium, in fidelity to Him who “is the same yesterday and today and forever,” Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[From the final page of the encyclical on labor and the economy, Centesimus Annus, by St. John Paul II, 1991]