Papal Consecration of Youth to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

12 August 2011 - 1:50pm — joyce

By Fr. Prospero, S.J.

In July the organizers for World Youth Day 2011 Madrid announced that the Pope himself will consecrate the pilgrims to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at World Youth Day (Aug. 16-21). As most of you know our parish has fifty-five pilgrims currently in Spain for this event. We would appreciate your solidarity with us as we prepare for this Consecration.

The word “consecration” means to set aside for God. People have been consecrated to God for centuries. In the Old Testament the people of Israel were chosen by God, i.e., “the Chosen People.” They were “set aside” as a people peculiarly His own. There are references to the Chosen People describing them as “consecrated” to God. They would also consecrate their first born sons to the Lord, and many other similar practices. Setting aside things for God is a way of living out our consecration to God and the covenant He establishes with His people.

After our Lord came to earth to suffer and die for us in the person of Jesus Christ, consecration has taken on its full meaning. Every baptized person is consecrated to God to share in His very life. The baptized are claimed for God as His children, destined to inherit the blessings of the kingdom. The consecration of baptism is renewed and moves the baptized closer to God in the consecration at Holy Mass. Here, the priest says the words of blessing over the bread and the wine changing them into the Sacred Body and Precious Blood of Christ. What happens to the elements of bread and wine is what is supposed to happen to each of us in a more full and complete way throughout our lives. We participate at Holy Mass inasmuch as we participate in this transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Through the invocation of the Holy Spirit by the priest acting in the person of Christ, speaking the very Words of Jesus, God enters our world in a special way and change happens.

Making a formal act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, our Holy Father intends to hasten the process transformation of pilgrim hearts into the Heart of Jesus. The Pope wants to emphasize that our faith is a faith of the heart leading us into the Heart of Jesus. Heart to heart communication makes human relations real, and it makes Christian faith real. We are a people of the heart. God comforts our hearts through His grace coming from the Heart of Jesus and leads us into peace. Grace awaits our free “yes” to Him. Only those who imitate Jesus’ total “yes” to the Father can be disposed to receive fully the grace of God. For this reason we cling to the Eucharist for strength to make this offering real and definitive.