Bishop Dewane has asked all
parishes to make a consecration of the parish and the whole diocese, to Mary. This
will be done on Christmas Eve and there is a 33-day preparation for this, which
will involve prayers each day to be said in each parish. I would like to try
and explain what this means and why we would be asked to do this.
A consecration of something, or
someone, means a dedication to something sacred. When a new church is built, it
is consecrated, or ‘dedicated’ to God as a place of worship. When I was
ordained a priest, I was consecrated to God’s service. To consecrate our parish
and our world to Our Lady is to consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary. But why not just consecrate
our diocese to Jesus directly? Why do we need to bring Mary into it?
God the Father chose to give his
Son Jesus to us, through Mary, because He wants us to be part of his work in
the world. God could fix everything in the world instantly, but God wants us human
beings to be involved in his creation and his work and this is a reminder to us
of how much God respects us and loves us. So, God gave us Jesus, through Mary.
Mary was his instrument to bring us Jesus. He allowed his work to depend on the
cooperation of a human being. This woman, Mary, who was just a teenager at the
time, was invited to play this extraordinary role in history. Through her ‘yes’
to God’s invitation, Jesus, the One who would free us from eternal death, came
into the world. So the most ideal way for us to come to Jesus, is also through Mary.
Who is closer to God than Mary? No one. What request of Mary would be refused
by Jesus? Nothing. She is the ideal vessel to bring us to Jesus. To consecrate
our parishes and diocese to Jesus through her, is the ideal way to give
ourselves to Jesus.
Why do we need to make this consecration
at all? Don’t we already belong to Jesus? Of course we do, but in the words of John Paul II, we are
living in a time of ‘unprecedented evil’, in a ‘culture of death.’ However, God’s
word in the Bible also tells us that ‘where sin increased, grace increased all
the more’ (Rom 5:20). This means that even where there is terrible evil, God’s
help will be there even more, which means that right now, God is offering us
more help than ever, to overcome what is happening around us.
When Our Lady appeared in Fatima,
she warned the children that the world must turn back to God to prevent further
wars and catastrophes. She said that many people had turned away from God and
that the sins of the world were greatly offending God. Those apparitions took
place during World War 1. Our Lady also said that if people turned back to God
with prayer and penance the war (WW1) would end and a second greater war could
be prevented. She said to the children:
“To prevent
this [Second
World War] I shall come to ask the consecration of Russia to my
Immaculate Heart, and Communions of reparation on the first Saturdays. If
my requests are heard, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If
not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, fomenting wars and
persecution of the Church.”
Right now we need all the help we
can get and to rededicate ourselves to Jesus through Mary, is exactly what we
need to do in order to help us reduce and overcome the evil in the world.
We don’t know that much about the
life of Mary, but we do know that everywhere in the Bible that mentions Mary,
she was always pointing people to Jesus, bringing people to Jesus. At the wedding of Cana when the couple
ran out of wine, she asked Jesus to fix the situation. Jesus said that this
wasn’t his time to start working miracles, but he did it anyway because Mary asked him to. Anywhere that Mary has appeared in the world, and there have been
quite a few places, it has always been about her pointing us back to Jesus. So a consecration
to Mary is really about Jesus.
At the end of his life on earth,
while dying on the cross, Jesus entrusted John the Apostle to Mary. ‘Son,
behold your mother’ (John 19:26). Now St. John also represents the model disciple, in other words, this is what we are also called to be like. St. John was always the one who did the right
thing and was faithful to Jesus to the end. He was the only one of the Apostles
beside Jesus at the foot of the cross. He represents all disciples, which is
us. Jesus entrusted all of us to the care of Our Lady, because she is the
perfect instrument to bring us to Jesus. That is why she has continually
appeared in different places, pointing us to Jesus, asking us to come back to
Jesus, for our own sake.
At this time, our world has gone
crazy. Just think about this country alone: all the killings for no particular
reason. This wasn’t happening up to quite recently. Why is it happening now?
Because there is so much evil in the world and because so many people have turned away from God. We need all the help we
can get to prevent it from getting any worse. Therefore, we rededicate
ourselves, our parishes and our diocese, to Our Lady, to help refocus on Jesus,
rededicate ourselves to Jesus, in order to put things right again.
When we are in trouble, God
always shows us what we need to do. This is what God is showing us right now.
This 33-day preparation will
involve prayers during each mass starting this Tuesday. If you would like to do
this in a more in-depth way, there is also a book available for private use called 33 Days to Morning Glory.
Whether you decide to do the
indepth version of this 33-day preparation, or just join us at whatever mass
you find yourself at, take this seriously. Each day make a private prayer for yourself and your family or loved ones, so that we all may be drawn closer to Jesus, through Mary. We really need God’s help at this time and God is offering it to us through this consecration to Our Lady.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us.
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