21st Sunday after Pentecost 13.10.13 Consecration of the world
Today Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and we join in with him and the whole Church for this event.
As the Introit of today’s Mass puts it: All things, Lord, are subject to Your power, and there is nothing that can go against Your will. For all that is, is Your creation; the earth and sky and all the stars contained within the vault of heaven. You are Lord of all the universe.
To consecrate the world is simply to acknowledge that it all belongs to God. We, the human race, have not always lived in that acknowledgment; very far from it. We have defied and disobeyed the will of God, in all manner of ways usurping His sovereign authority. We have lived as though the world belonged to us; that it is there for us to do with as we please.
Today we can go some way to correcting the collective sins of humanity, and going through the pure heart of Mary, seek right balance in all our dealings with Almighty God.
Today is the anniversary of the miracle of the sun at Fatima in 1917. On that day the power of God over the universe was demonstrated. Thousands of people witnessed this miracle and were greatly moved by it.
A lot of people present that day repented fairly quickly thinking that the sun was going to fall on them! It is easy to be unconcerned about matters such as final judgment when all is going well; when the sky is blue and all appears to be going along as normal. But we must never become complacent.
It appears that God lets a lot of things go unpunished; and people gather confidence from that. They can even reach a point of denying God’s existence. But He can make Himself known very quickly and in all sorts of ways. Let some disaster come and suddenly everyone is asking for mercy.
What we have to do is ask for mercy while all is still calm. We do not need to be terrified into repentance; we want to get things right with God anyway. This is the proper attitude.
And today’s consecration is an expression of this desire – that we, as the Church, on behalf of all humanity, beg the forgiveness of God for all sins against His sovereignty, and ask His grace that we may do better in the future.
The debtor in the parable (Gospel) was terrified of the punishment he was about to receive, and to avoid this punishment was prepared to promise anything. That his repentance was insincere is proved by his subsequent behaviour.
If we ask the Lord for mercy it must be with the complete determination to do all in our power to avoid repeating the same sins, or any sort of sin.
This determination is easier if we keep reminding ourselves how it all belongs to Him, all the world, even our own lives.
If He forgives us it is not because we deserve it, but simply because He is kind to us.
If He give us chance after chance to get things right it is just further proof of His kindness.
But we owe it to Him to do all in our power to get things right; not presuming on His mercy, but letting it transform us to new ways of acting.
So we offer the world to Him today. It is His anyway, but it is important we ‘give it back’ to Him, letting go of any false sense of our own dominion.
We are stewards only; stewards of His creation.
Our Lady will help us to keep the right perspective. Despite the great honours granted to her she always remained humble and obedient to One so much greater still.
May she accept today’s consecration, take it to the throne of God Himself, and guide us as to anything else we need to do.
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