Chapter Six
IMPORTANCE OF THE CONSECRATIONS
After the last will and testament of Louis XVI was found wedged in the stones of his cell, and even after all the tragedies of France and the birth in Paris of worldwide atheism formalized in the writings of Karl Marx, France did not respond to the requests made to St. Margaret Mary until two hundred years later, when France was on the verge of being conquered in 1870 in the FrancoPrussian war.
Then, a group of lay persons came forward and petitioned the Archbishop of Paris to fulfill the requests of the Sacred Heart. At the same time, they offered to raise funds to build the requested chapel with an image of the Sacred Heart, and suggested it be on the hill above Paris (the hill on which early Christians had died for the faith).
Responding to this initiative, the Archbishop wrote to all the bishops of France asking their participation. France was consecrated to the Sacred Heart, and the "chapel" on Montmartre, with the image of the Sacred Heart and perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, became a magnificent Basilica that has become a landmark of the French capital.
Immediate Response from Heaven
Almost immediately after the laity had taken this initiative, Our Lady appeared in 1871 in the sky at Pontmain, a short distance from where the German armies, after overrunning most of France, had taken the city of Lavalle. In Her hands was a blood red crucifix. A band appeared at Her feet with the words: "Continue to pray. My son permits Himself (His Heart) to be touched."
At that same moment, Our Lady revealed Her Immaculate Heart in the church of Our Lady of Victories in Paris. Forty-two stars appeared at Her feet, the war ended immediately, and there followed forty two years of peace.
Consecrations of the World
What had happened in France became a grace for the world.
In 1898, upon the heels of these events in France, Jesus appeared to a Good Shepherd nun, Mother Mary of the Divine Heart, in a convent on the outskirts of the city of Oporto, in Portugal. He asked that the Pope make the consecration of the world to His Sacred Heart.
In response, Pope Leo XIII wrote Annum Sacrum in 1899, opening the new century with a request for the consecration. The encyclical was sent to all the Bishops of the world, commanding them to join in this world consecration to the Sacred Heart on June 11, 1899.
Leo XIII had one of the longest and most fruitful reigns in the history of the papacy and he said that this consecration was "the greatest act of my pontificate," from which "I expect great graces for the world."
Why?
Perhaps many of us may have difficulty in seeing that an act of consecration could be so important.
Why did it take so long (until the dawn of the last century of the second millennium) to consecrate the world to the Sacred Heart? Why did it take so long (to the dawn of the first century of the new millennium) to consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of His Mother. Why?
Out of many reasons, two in particular are suggested:
1) The world had to be ready for these acts to be made;
2) Mankind had to understand that the acts themselves are a renunciation of Satan, at the same time they are a consecration to God through those greatest signs of His Love: the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Our Lord Himself said that the reason the Pope was not moved to make the collegial consecration during almost eighty years was because the world had not responded to the message given at Fatima.
The Alternative
The world had not responded even though God had given the sign of a great miracle, witnessed by tens of thousands, "so that all may believe" that they had to mend their lives. Otherwise, they would suffer another world war, atheism would spread from Russia throughout the world fostering other wars, and so on. And they had either not believed, did not respond, or both.
So the consecration was delayed. All those tragedies happened before it was finally made, and the Soviet Union was dissolved.
So the first reason was OUR lack of response. And the second reason is self-evident. If I consecrate myself to the Sacred Heart, I will want to avoid what offends His Heart; if I am consecrated to the most pure Heart of Mary, I will want to avoid what offends that most pure Heart.
A prerequisite to the consecration was a sincere resolution, at least of a sufficient number persons, to avoid what would offend Their Hearts.
Must Be Renewed Annually
We are weak, and resolutions are easily broken. They have to be renewed.
Pope St. Pius X, in 1906, commanded renewal of the consecration to the Sacred Heart throughout the world. In 1925, Pope Pius XI made the renewal of the whole world and mandated that it be renewed annually on the Feast of Christ the King. And Pope Pius XII, who had consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima in 1942, now commanded twelve years later (1954) that this consecration to the Immaculate Heart be renewed annually on the Feast of Our Lady's Queenship.
Consecration to Their Hearts is a recognition of Their sovereign rights over us. Jesus is King by right and by conquest (as God and as Redeemer) and Mary is Queen by right and by conquest (as His Mother and as the Mother at the foot of Cross).
The commands of the vicars of Christ for annual renewal of consecration to Their Sacred Hearts have been largely ignored. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the Fatima week advances so slowly.
Now on One Day
It has been suggested that now the renewal of consecration to the Sacred Heart and to the Immaculate Heart be made on one day: the Sunday immediately following their feasts.
The feast of the Sacred Heart is on Friday, and of the Immaculate Heart on the day following, which is of course Saturday. Since the next day is a Sunday, when all go to Mass, would it not be simple for the Church to have the act of consecration after all Masses on that day? Then the "entire Church," as Jesus requested, would be responding.
Even if we do not understand the importance of the consecrations and of their regular, periodical renewal, we can believe the great promises which have been made by the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. They have used the words protection, victory, triumph, and an era of peace for mankind.
When Pope Leo XIII made the consecration to the Sacred Heart a hundred years ago, he said: "I expected from this consecration the greatest graces for the whole world." And when Pope Pius XII mandated annual renewal of the consecration to the Immaculate Heart in 1954, he said: "In this lies the world's greatest hope."
Thirty years later, in 1984, making the collegial consecration to the Immaculate Heart in Rome, in union with all the bishops of the world, Pope John Paul II expressed a similar hope. And, in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, he said: "As we approach the millennium, the words of Our Lady of Fatima seem to be nearing their fulfillment."
So where are we in the Fatima week?
This and other books by John M. Haffert
God's
Final Effort | Too Late? | The Day I Didn't Die