DAY 28
Marian Entrustment
(Part Two)
Let's return to Fatima, where we started this week — but this time
let's go with St. John Paul II.
Exactly one year after being shot in St. Peter's Square, John Paul
went to Fatima "in order to give thanks that the mercy of God and
the protection of the Mother of Christ" had saved his
life.100
On that occasion, he delivered a heartfelt homily that's a rich source
of the theology of Marian consecration and entrustment. The entire homily
and Act of Entrustment are too long to cite here. So, I'm going to
summarize. Specifically, I'm going to draw out from them the
connection the Pope makes between consecration to Mary, Divine
Mercy, and the redeeming consecration of Christ. Let's start with
the connection between Mary and Divine Mercy.
Before we begin, a
few things about Divine Mercy: (1) According to John Paul, Divine
Mercy is the limit imposed by God on evil, the love of God in the
face of evil; (2) Divine Mercy is symbolized by the pierced side
of Christ and the blood and water that gushed forth from his side;
(3) a central part of the modern Divine Mercy devotion is the
Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which offers atonement and implores mercy
for our sins and those of the whole world. In what follows, notice
how these three aspects of Divine Mercy are central to the Pope's
most important homily on Marian consecration.
The homily's context is the widespread, "almost
apocalyptic" evil of our time, an evil that "menaces",
that is "spreading", and that gathers "like a dark cloud
over mankind". The Pope confesses that this evil causes
"trepidation" in his heart. Despite this, he finds hope
in "a Love more powerful than evil" which no "sin
of the world can ever overcome." This Love he identifies as
"merciful
Love."101
And what about this merciful Love? What does it have to do
with Marian consecration? Everything. It has everything to do with
consecration because Mary is the one who brings us to the source
of merciful Love. Mary is the one who brings us to the love that
is more powerful than evil. Indeed, as John Paul says in this
homily, consecration to the Immaculate Heart means "drawing
near, through the Mother's intercession, to the very Fountain of
Life that sprang from
Golgotha".102
What is this fountain of life? The Pope identifies it as "the Fountain
of Mercy".103
It's the pierced side of Christ from which blood and water flowed
as a source of grace and mercy. And it's through this wound in
Christ's Heart that "reparation is made continually for the
sins of the world". Moreover, through this Fountain of
Mercy, we find "a ceaseless source of new life and
holiness."104
The Pope goes on to explain that consecration to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary means "returning to the Cross of the
Son". It means bringing the world and all its problems and
sufferings to "the pierced Heart of the Savior" and thus
"back to the very source of its Redemption." It means
bringing the world, through Mary, to Divine Mercy! The power of
the Redemption; the power of merciful Love, "is always
greater than man's sin and the 'sin of the world'" and is
"infinitely superior to the whole range of evil in man and
the world."
Now, Mary knows the power of the Redemption, the power of
merciful Love, better than anyone. In fact, John Paul says she
knows it "more than any other heart in the whole universe,
visible and invisible". Therefore, she calls us not only to
conversion but "to accept her motherly help to return to the
source of Redemption." For again, Mary's task is to bring us
to the Fountain of Mercy, to the pierced side of Christ, to his
Merciful Heart.
Essentially, then, consecrating ourselves to Mary "means
accepting her help to offer ourselves and the whole of
mankind"105
to the infinitely Holy God. It means entrusting
ourselves to she who was most united to Christ's own consecration:
"Hail to you who are wholly united to the redeeming
consecration of your
Son!"106
It means entrusting ourselves to Mary's prayers, that she may
"help us to live with the whole truth of the consecration of
Christ for the entire human family of the modern
world."107
In other words, consecrating ourselves to Mary means relying on
her motherly intercession to help us offer ourselves more fully
to Christ in his own consecration for our redemption.
After putting himself and the world into Mary's hands
and Heart, after giving himself to she who is most wholly united
to Jesus' consecration, the Pope prays the heart of his act
of entrustment. Let's conclude by pondering it deeply in our own
hearts:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal life"
(Jn 3:16).
It was precisely by reason of this
love that the Son of God consecrated himself for all mankind:
"And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may
be consecrated in truth" (Jn 17:19).
By reason of that consecration the disciples of all ages are
called to spend themselves for the salvation of the world, and to
supplement Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is
the Church (see 2 Cor 12:15; Col 1:24).
Before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, I
today, together with the whole Church, unite myself with our
Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for people,
which only in his divine Heart has the power to obtain pardon and
to secure
reparation.108
Today's Prayer:
Come, Holy Spirit, living in Mary. Draw me in, with, and
through Mary to the Fountain of Love and Mercy.
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