The Importance of Fatima

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  We remember how on May 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children--Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta--and gave them an important message for the world. It wasn't a new message but as old as the Gospel where we read in Mark that the first recorded words of Jesus after his baptism and the temptations in the desert were: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (1: 15).

On May 13, 1982,  one year after the attempt on his life, St. John Paul II visited Fatima and offered the Blessed Mother the bullet that had struck him and which he was convinced did not kill him because her finger guided it away from doing mortal harm. (I wrote here about this bullet which was affixed to the crown that is placed on the statue of Our Lady on special occasions.)

 Pope John Paul II said:

"These are the first words of the Messiah addressed to humanity. The message of Fatima is, in its basic nucleus, a call to conversion and repentance, as in the Gospel. This call was uttered at the beginning of the twentieth century, and it was addressed particularly to this present century.  ... The call to repentance is a motherly one, and at the same time it is strong and decisive."

The call of  Jesus and Our Lady of Fatima has not lost its urgency.

Pope Francis has a special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. In his first Angelus Address after being elected pope, he mentioned a statue of Our Lady of Fatima that came to Buenos Aires on pilgrimage shortly after he became a bishop there in 1992. Then, in 2013, two months after his election, Pope Francis asked the Patriarch of Lisbon to consecrate his papacy to Our Lady of Fatima.  Cardinal Policarpo did so on May 13, 2013 with these words: “O Blessed Virgin, we are at your feet to carry out the request clearly expressed by Pope Francis to consecrate to you, O Virgin of Fatima, his ministry as Bishop of Rome and universal pastor.” 

On the anniversary of the last Fatima apparition, October 13, 2013, during the Marian Day of the Year of Faith, Pope Francis entrusted the world to Our Lady of Fatima with these words:

Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima,
with renewed gratitude for your motherly presence
we join in the voice of all generations that call you blessed.

We celebrate in you the great works of God,
who never tires of lowering himself in mercy over humanity,
afflicted by evil and wounded by sin,
to heal and to save it.

Accept with the benevolence of a Mother
this act of entrustment that we make in faith today,
before this your image, beloved to us.

We are certain that each one of us is precious in your eyes
and that nothing in our hearts has estranged you.

May we allow your sweet gaze
to reach us and the perpetual warmth of your smile.

Guard our life with your embrace: 

bless and strengthen every desire for good;
give new life and nourishment to faith;
sustain and enlighten hope;
awaken and animate charity;
guide us all on the path to holiness.

Teach us your own special love for the little and the poor,
for the excluded and the suffering,
for sinners and the wounded of heart:
gather all people under your protection
and give us all to your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.

Amen.

In two years, Pope Francis hopes to go to Fatima for the centenary of the apparitions.  

Clearly Our Lady of Fatima important to Pope Francis.  Her message is as important as ever. Sister Lucia, who lived for almost eighty-eight years after Mary appeared to her, wrote in a book published in 2000 ("Calls" from the Message of Fatima):

"We all desire and long for peaceful days, to be able to live in peace. But this peace will not be achieved until we use the Law of God as the norm and guide of our steps. Now the entire Message of Fatima is a call to pay attention to this divine Law. ...

"God does not wish sinners to perish but rather that they be converted and live. This is the reason why Our Lady urged us so insistently to pray and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners: Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners. Many souls go to hell because there is none to make sacrifices and to pray for them (Fatima, 19th August, 1917). Hence, by our union with Christ and with his Church, we must offer ourselves as victims of expiation and petition for the conversion of our brothers and sisters. Herein lies the essence of our charity: to love those who perhaps do harm to us, contradict or persecute us. Our forgiveness, offered to them in the light of faith, hope and charity, will draw them back into the arms of God."

Cor Unum

I'm at my old "stomping grounds," the Jesuit Retreat House in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, located on Lake Demontreville and often referred to by that name. I gave my first retreat here in 1986 and was part of the staff from 2000-2003. Sixty-nine men from around the Twin Cities and as far away as Kansas and California are on retreat with me.

I've given several retreats this summer but have not been able to write about them because I didn't have the necessary computer access. Last week I was at Conception Abbey in the northwest corner of Missouri where I gave a retreat to members of Cor Unum. Though founded in France in 1790, the groups that comprise "Cor Unum" (One Heart), are secular institutes, a relatively new phenomenon in the Church. After Opus Dei, they were the second such canonically recognized group.

The year of their foundation was a difficult time for the Church in France. It was a time of revolution and suppression. The Society of Jesus or Jesuits had already been suppressed but one of their members, Fr. Joseph de Cloriviere, continued to function as a priest and imagined a new form of consecrated life. In a letter dated 1810, he wrote: "I conceived it would be the setting up of a sort of universal Religious Society that would be open to any kind of people, or any age, country or condition, being capable of the evangelical perfection. They would not separate their members from the ordinary faithful people...." This "Society" had shaky beginnings and was re-founded in 1918 by Fr. Daniel Fontaine, another French priest.

Today this group can be found around the world and calls itself "Cor Unum" or "The Family of the Heart of Jesus." A brochure describes them as follows: "The Family of the Heart of Jesus is comprised of three secular institutes (one for clerics, one for celibate laymen, and one for celibate laywomen) and an association of the faithful for married persons and others who wish to belong to the Family without taking vows. The secular institutes are a special structure within the Roman Catholic Church, a form of 'consecrated life,' designed to enable single lay people and diocesan priests to live and work in the secular world while consecrating themselves more fully to the Lord. However, members to do not live in communities (necessarily), and do not wear anything distinctive." The group shares a common spirituality of devotion to the Sacred Heart and of St. Ignatius Loyola. Before its members pronounce their permanent vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, they make the full thirty day Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

On the retreat I gave there were diocesan priests, single lay men and women, and a married couple who had come together from both coasts and places in between. At the end of the retreat, two women pronounced their permanent vows in the Institute of the Heart of Jesus. As always, giving a retreat like this was a blessing for me and another opportunity to learn more about the wonderfully diverse Catholic Church.

What's in a Name?

I'm in St. Charles, Missouri, right outside St. Louis these days for a parish mission at Saints Joachim and Ann parish.  As always, I preached at all the Masses this weekend and invited the parishioners to take advantage of this opportunity where you don't have to go away to make a retreat but where the retreat comes to the parish.  Here's a bit of my homily:

We've all heard the expression, "What's in a name?"  It's a dismissive expression meant to say that names are not important.  What's important is the person.  But in the first reading, part of St. Peter's speech in Acts Chapter 4, we hear about a name that is very important as well as powerful.  It's a name that can heal a crippled man.  It's the only name, according to St. Peter, "under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved."  It's the name "Jesus." 

Several years ago a fifth grader asked me, "What was Jesus' middle name?"  I asked him what was Jesus' last name and he answered, "Christ."  I told him that at the time of Jesus they didn't have last names or middle names the way we do and that "Christ" was actually a title and not a name.  It means "Anointed One." 

At each of our baptisms we were given this title--"Christian"--for at baptism we were anointed with the Sacred Chrism.  We were joined to the Body of Christ and became Christians, Anointed Ones.  In the second reading from the First Letter of John we hear that God has bestowed a great love "on us that we may be called children of God."  But we are God's children not just in name but in reality for St. John continues: "Yet so we are."  This is not only our name but our deepest identity.

Every Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as "Good Shepherd Sunday" because that is what our Gospel is about.  It is also World Day of Prayer of Prayer for Vocations.  The Holy Father writes a special message for this day every year and in his message this year Pope Benedict quoted St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 1: 5.  God "chose us, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him in love."  Commenting on this, Pope Benedict wrote: "We are loved by God even 'before' we come into existence! ... every human person is the fruit of God's thought and an act of his love, a love that is boundless, faithful and everlasting."  Think of it: God had you in mind from all eternity.  The thoughts of God are eternal.  It wasn't as though 9 or 10 months before your birth God decided, "I think I'll make so-and-so."  From all eternity God planned to create you.  You give God a pleasure and glory that no other person can give him. 

Then Pope Benedict wrote: "The discovery of this reality is what truly and profoundly changes our lives. ... Dear brothers and sisters, we need to open our lives to this love.  It is to the perfection of the Father's love (cf. Mt 5: 48) that Jesus Christ calls us every day!  The high standard of the Christian life consists in loving 'as' God loves; with a love that is shown in the total, faithful and fruitful gift of self."

God loves totally.  This is the meaning of the story of the Good Shepherd.  Unlike the "hired man" who runs when the wolf comes, the Good Shepherd risks his life for the sheep.  I suspect this teaching would have been shocking to those listening to Jesus.  What human would risk his or her life to protect animals?  It is just as shocking that God would do such a thing for his human creatures.  God became human, suffered, and died.  God sacrificed all to save his human flock.  We must be worth very much for God to do this. 

But we are not just sheep.  Our baptism has raised us up and joined us to Christ, the Good Shepherd.  We are called and empowered now to love as God loves, to make a total gift of ourselves to God and to his human flock for whom he sacrificed all.  At baptism we were anointed to be Good Shepherds with Christ.  We received the Holy Spirit to empower us to love like the Good Shepherd.  The Sacred Chrism with which we were anointed is used on only a few special occasions.  When this church building was first consecrated its walls were anointed with the Sacred Chrism, setting this space aside for a sacred purpose, for worship.  At the same time the altar of this church was anointed with Chrism, setting it aside for a sacred purpose, for worship.When I was ordained my hands were anointed with Sacred Chrism, setting them aside for a sacred purpose, for worship.  And when each of us was baptised and confirmed, we were anointed with Sacred Chrism, setting each one of us aside for a sacred purpose, for worship.  We fulfill this task by gathering as we do today to worship God together.  But we also worship God when we leave Mass.  We are called to worship God with each moment of our day.  Our entire life is meant to be an act of worship, an act of love for God and his flock.  The Morning Offering helps us to begin each day mindful of our holy call to worship God in our daily lives. 

Consecration to the Two Hearts

Early this week I commuted between Milwaukee and Kenosha to give a parish mission at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The theme of the mission was the Sacred Heart and how we encounter the Heart of Jesus at Mass in the Liturgy of the Word and in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

On Saturday I attended the Men of Christ conference in Milwaukee. Before leading a blessing for fathers to pray over their sons and an individual consecration prayer, I said the following:

After leading the Israelites into the promised land, Joshua said to the people: "Fear the lord and serve him completely and sincerely. ... If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve.... As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24: 14-15). In 1979 Bob Dylan came out with the song "Gotta Serve Somebody" which won for him the best rock vocal performance by a male in 1980. What he sang is true. Everyone has to serve. The question is whom or what? Which side are you on?

Admiral Jeremiah Denton knew the one he served and the one he served did not let him down. He served the Sacred Heart of Jesus. You can see a video of him that is in the national archives. Just click on "Contents" and scroll down to the last entry under "Scenes from Hell." He was shot down over North Vietnam on July 18, 1965 and wasn't released until February 17, 1973. Of his almost eight years in prison, he spent four of them in solitary confinement. The video shows him being interviewed by a reporter in North Vietnam. All during the interview he blinked his eyes in a way that seemed strange to those who later saw the footage. His blinks were Morse Code and spelled out the word "torture."

How did Admiral Denton survive? Fr. Jim Willig, in his book about his struggle with cancer, "Lessons from the School of Suffering," quoted Admiral Denton :

When I was in prison in Vietnam in solitary confinement, my captor would continually torture me. One day I was tied to a rack. A young soldier was ordered to torture me and break me. During this torture, when I honestly felt I was at my breaking point, a beautiful prayer came instantly to my mind, even though I wasn't praying. The prayer was "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I give my life to you." So, I prayed that prayer over and over again. The more I prayed it, the more I felt I truly was giving my life to the Lord. Then this peace came over me like a warm blanket, and I no longer felt pain--only peace. The soldier torturing me saw this transformation in my face and stopped his torture. He went to his commanding officer and said, "I'm sorry. I can't do this." And they let me go back to my cell. From that day on, I continued to use that prayer of peace, "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I give my life to you."

I talked with Admiral Denton about this and he said that what struck him as unusual is that he had learned prayers to the Sacred Heart as a child and they all used the word "thee," but the prayer that came to his mind out of the blue used the more familiar "you."

Admiral Denton gave his life to the Sacred Heart who did not let him down. Now we will declare whom we will serve. We will give our lives, our love, our all to the Sacred Heart of Jesus who gave His life, His love, His all to us. We will consecrate ourselves to both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary because these two Hearts beat as one for the salvation of everyone. We want our hearts to beat as one with their Hearts.

Then, I led the 2,500 to 3,000 men who had gathered in the following prayer which Douglas Leonard, the director of operations and development of the Apostleship of Prayer, had written for the occasion.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I consecrate myself to you today in grateful response to your love for me. I offer you my body, soul, mind, and heart. Receive me and send your Holy Spirit to guide me in the way of perfect love.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, you stood under the cross and shared in the sufferings of Jesus and his perfect act of consecration for my salvation and that of the whole world. Jesus gave you to us to be our mother. Pray that my heart, like your Immaculate Heart, may beat as one with the Sacred Heart of your Son.

Jesus and Mary, as I consecrate myself to you two Hearts, I pray for those you have given me-my family, my friends, and all the people in my life. May we be united in the family of the Church and share in the mission of bringing the Gospel to every human being. And lead us all safely home to live forever in the love of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ the Teacher

This afternoon I spoke at a holy hour of "Roses for Our Lady," a group in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee that gathers at the local seminary to pray for vocations in the Church.

I asked them: Who was your favorite teacher? Who was your best teacher? Sometimes the two aren't the same person. Our favorite teacher might be someone who was nice and friendly and who pretty much let the class do what it wanted. Our best teacher might be someone who was tough and challenging.

Don Clifton, a professor in the School of Education at the University of Nebraska, developed an interview to find the best teachers. He discovered that all those teachers who were considered the best in their field according to their peers and administrators had one thing in common. When asked what they enjoyed most about teaching they responded that it was seeing growth in their students. Naturally, to achieve such growth they had to be challenging at times.

In today's Gospel (Matthew 15: 21-28) we see Jesus, the best of teachers.

At first glance Jesus appears harsh with the Canannite woman, telling her that it wasn't right to give the children's food to dogs. This was a common way for the Israelites to view pagans, yet Jesus softens this by using a term, according to commentators, that means "little dogs," "pets," or "puppies." The woman persists in her plea for help and Jesus, having challenged her to grow even deeper in her faith and seeing her growth, responds by healing her daughter. What joy it must have given Jesus, the teacher, to see her growth demonstrated by her "great" faith.

Pope Benedict is about to challenge the youth of the world. World Youth Day begins in Madrid, Spain on August 16 and on Saturday, August 20, at the Eucharistic vigil, he will consecrate the youth of the world to the Sacred Heart. This is not a symbolic gesture. It has significant meaning. He is placing the youth of the world into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, praying that they will truly be both rooted in the love of Jesus' Heart and strong in their faith. In a special preparatory catechesis, the consecration is called an act of faith. The Pope is challenging the young people of the world, as Jesus challenged the Canaanite woman, to grow in their faith.

The consecration is also an act of hope: "The Pope will consecrate every young person in the world, not only the ones present at the vigil. In today's youth we find the hope of the Church and of humanity. In this consecration, the youth will state, together with the Pope, that 'apart from Jesus Christ risen from the dead, there can be no salvation! He alone can free the world from evil and bring about the growth of the Kingdom of justice, peace and love to which we all aspire.' (WYD Message)"

And the consecration is an act of love: "In this consecration we will touch Jesus, and we will renew the grace of our baptism in which we were immersed in this Love."

Let's all pray that Christ our teacher, speaking through Pope Benedict, may help the youth of the world grow in faith, hope, and love this coming week.

Consecration

This evening I am going to celebrate Mass for a group of women who support one another in their spiritual lives. Part of that support has, over the years, included making and renewing the St. Louis de Montfort Consecration to Mary. I joined them in preparing for and then making this Consecration on December 8, 2003, a few months after becoming the U.S. director of the Apostleship of Prayer. We will renew the Consecration tonight and this is what I'll say in my homily.

Our first reading (Acts 8: 1b-8) begins on a very negative note--"a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem"--and ends on a very positive note--"There was great joy in that city [of Samaria]." What happened in the intervening verses to bring about such a change?

The persecution led the Christians of Jerusalem to leave the city and to scatter "throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria." They brought with them the Good News of Jesus. They brought healings, both physical and spiritual. Would these Christians have scattered had they not been persecuted? We don't know if they would have followed the command of Jesus to "make disciples of all nations" (see Matthew 28: 19), but we do know that God allowed the persecution to take place and used it to move the Church beyond Jerusalem. This is another example of what St. Paul wrote in Romans 8: 28: "We know that all things work for good for those who love God."

We struggle to believe that. Suffering seems pointless. We cannot see its value. We cannot see its effects other than the negative ones. Yet, as the Church has taught from the beginning, suffering has redemptive value. Blessed John Paul II was an example of that.

In Lent 2002, he asked Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche (The Ark), an international network of communities in which volunteers live with people who are mentally disabled, to come to Rome to address the press conference at which his Lenten Message was released. John Paul was 81 and suffering from Parkinson's. He was stooped, he walked with a cane, he slurred his speech, and he drooled. Vanier said the following:

"He's never been more beautiful. It is a blessing to have someone so fragile--he is an incredible sign for the world. He is teaching an incredible lesson in assuming his disability, his fragility and trusting in St. Paul's words: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'

"There is a great mystery around people with disabilities. It is a scandal, and we cannot underestimate the pain. The most oppressed people in the world are those with disabilities--in France, 96% of women who find out that they are carrying a child with disabilities will opt for an abortion. The disabled are often made to feel guilty for existing.

"It is scandalous, but it is the same scandal as the Cross. Many handicapped children cry out: 'My God, my God, why have I been abandoned?' It is the same cry from the Cross. This is the mystery--those who appear to be less human teach us to be human and those who are most rejected are those who heal us."

This is the lesson of Jesus that we are all called to follow. In today's Gospel (John 6: 35-40), Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." These are more than words, more than a metaphor. In John 12: 24, Jesus said: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." Jesus is the grain that dies, the grain that is ground up to form bread to be consumed and give life. According to Pope Benedict, Jesus, at the Last Supper, anticipated his death on the cross and transformed it. In his homily at the end of World Youth Day 2005, he said:

"By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence--the Crucifixion--from within becomes an act of total self-giving love. This is the substantial transformation which was accomplished at the Last Supper and was destined to set in motion a series of transformations leading ultimately to the transformation of the world when God will be all in all (1 Corinthians 15: 28)."

Jesus can give life because he died. In today's Gospel Jesus goes on to say that he came to do one thing--the will of the Father which he says is "that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day." His entire will is united to the will of the Father which is that all people may come to eternal life in heaven.

Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary is one practical way that we follow the example of Jesus. In this consecration we offer ourselves to the Mother of Christ so that she in turn will offer us to him. She will purify all that is not worthy of God. She will complete what is lacking. In offering ourselves to Jesus through Mary, we declare that we want to die to ourselves, to our self-will. We declare that we want to surrender ourselves completely to the will of the Father, as both Jesus and Mary did, trusting that God will make everything work together for our good and the good of those with whom and for whom we live our lives.

Thanksgiving

On Monday I spoke at the annual Thanksgiving Breakfast sponsored by the West Allis Community Improvement Foundation. It's an event that raises money for food pantries in the area and the theme is "Thanks and Giving." Here is the gist of what I said.

Think back on the first words that a child learns. Usually it's "Ma-Ma" or "Ma," "Da" or "Da-Da." They are words that show the recognition of a loving care-giver, protector, and provider. Jesus taught us to recognize God in the same way, calling upon God as "our Father" or "Abba."

What are the next words that a child learns? Most kids, thinking only of themselves, grab for things. Parents ask them, "What do you say?" And they respond, "Please." Jesus also taught us to ask for what we need as God's humble and trusting children. God knows what we need, but we ask because in asking we show our love and our trust. We say "Please" to God.

And the next important word that a child learns? It often happens that after the child receives that for which he or she politely asked, the parents again ask, "What do you say?" And the child responds, "Thank you."

Thus we come together today to say "Thank You" to God our Father.

While the legend of the beginning of Thanksgiving Day takes us back to the 1600's and the Pilgrims of Massachusetts, the first officially proclaimed Thanksgiving Day was in 1777, in the middle of our nation's War of Independence. General George Washington and the Colonial Army had won the Battle of Saratoga and the Continental Congress proclaimed a day on which to give thanks. Here is part of that proclamation:

"FOR AS MUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, ... It is therefore recommended to the, legislative and executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts...."

Later, in 1889, President George Washington proclaimed another Thanksgiving Day with these words:

"Now therefore do I recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us."

However, it wasn't until 1863, in the middle of perhaps the greatest crisis the United States has faced--its Civil War of state against state, citizen against citizen--that President Abraham Lincoln declared a Thanksgiving Day that has been celebrated annually ever since. It's amazing to think that in the midst of such difficult times, Lincoln would focus on gratitude. He wrote in part:

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God."

Then, after acknowledging as well the "civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity," Lincoln continued to enumerate the many blessings the nation had received, including the fact that other nations had not used the Civil War as an excuse to exploit our weakness and attack us. He went on:

"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God.... It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

After proclaiming this Day of Thanksgiving, Lincoln went on to acknowledge the sins of the nation that led to the Civil War, to ask that his fellow citizens look after those in need, and to pray for peace:

"And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union."

After learning "Please" and "Thank you," a child must often learn another word. The child's tendency, having received something, is to hold on to it and say "Mine!" Parents step in at this point to say "Now share some with your brothers and sisters."

Jesus taught the same. He taught that our one, Heavenly Father's sun shines on the just and the unjust and His rain showers upon all His children. We come together not only to give thanks but to give, to share of the bounty we have. This is the community spirit that makes a great city.

Our world tends toward a selfish and greedy individualism, insisting "Mine!" Jesus shows us that true happiness is found in giving. Ultimately all that we have and all that we are--all our talents that have enabled us to achieve and acquire anything--is a gift. Without having first received the gift of life from God through our parents, we would be nothing, we would have nothing. Thus, recognizing that all is a gift, we share all, we return all to God.

General George Washington and the Continental Congress in 1777 said this as well. After declaring the first Thanksgiving Day they said:

"That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor...."

"Consecrate." The word means to dedicate or to set aside for a holy purpose. This is what the Apostleship of Prayer recommends that people do every day by making an offering of their day to God. After acknowledging that every day with all its minutes and hours is a gift from God, we say "Thank You" and share the gift by consecrating or offering our day to God. We share our day with God and the people God places in our lives each day. This is the meaning of St. Paul's words in his Letter to the Romans, Chapter 12, verse 1: "Offer your bodies, [your selves], as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God your spiritual worship."

This is what our nation was founded upon. This is what we need to keep alive. This is what you are doing. Thank you!

A Family's Consecration

Yesterday evening, I celebrated Mass at my friend and fellow blogger Anne Bender's house. After my homily her family celebrated the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, using a ceremony that the Apostleship of Prayer has created for this purpose. The tradition of placing an image of the Sacred Heart in a prominent place in one's home, gathering as a family, and declaring Jesus to be the King and Center of one's family, goes back especially to the early part of the 20th Century and to Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey who, when asking Pope St. Pius X if he had permission to promote such enthronements, responded: "No, no, my son. I do not permit you, I command you, do you understand? I order you to give your life for this work of salvation. It is a wonderful work; consecrate your entire life to it." His successor, Pope Benedict XV, wrote Fr. Mateo as follows:

"We have read your letter with interest and likewise the documents that accompanied it. From them we have learned of the diligence and zeal with which for many years you have devoted yourself to the work of consecrating families to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in such a way that while His image is installed in the principal place in the home as on a throne, our Divine Savior Jesus Christ is seen to reign at each Catholic hearth. ... Nothing, as a matter of fact, is more suitable to the needs of the present day than your enterprise. ... You do well, then, dear son, while taking up the cause of human society, to arouse and propagate above all things a Christian spirit in the home by setting up in each family the reign of the love of Jesus Christ. And in doing this you are but obeying our Divine Lord Himself, who promised to shower His blessings upon the homes wherein an image of His Heart should be exposed and devoutly honored."

After Communion, each of us recited a personal Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which Anne had copied for us. It's a beautiful prayer that I had never run across. Here it is:

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I consecrate myself to Your Most Sacred Heart. Take possession of my whole being; transform me into Yourself. Make my hands Your hands, my feet Your feet, my heart Your heart. Let me see with Your eyes, listen with Your ears, speak with Your lips, love with Your heart, understand with Your mind, serve with Your will, and be dedicated with my whole being. Make me Your other self. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, send me Your Holy Spirit to teach me to love You and to live through You, with You, in You and for You.

Come, Holy Spirit, make my body Your temple. Come, and abide with me forever. Give me the deepest love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in order to serve Him with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Take possession of all my faculties of body and soul. Regulate all my passions: feelings and emotions. Take possession of my intellect, understanding and will; my memory and imagination. O Holy Spirit of Love, give me an abundance of Your efficacious graces. Give me the fullness of all the virtues; enrich my faith, strengthen my hope, increase my trust, and inflame my love. Give me the fullness of Your sevenfold gifts, fruits and beatitudes. Most Holy Trinity, make my soul Your sanctuary. Amen.

I like this prayer because it is very Eucharistic. In consecrating ourselves to the Sacred Heart, we are asking that we may be one with Him, that we may truly be His Body. We are asking to be transformed so that we may think and feel with the mind and heart of Jesus. This transformation begins at Baptism and continues through the Holy Eucharist. It is the work of the Holy Spirit and so it's natural that in consecrating ourselves to the Sacred Heart, we ask that the Spirit help us to live that consecration one day at a time. With our own powers we cannot be faithful to our consecration. We need that same Spirit who empowered the early Church at Pentecost to empower us to do this.

After the Eucharistic banquet, where we were fed spiritually, we had a delicious meal for our bodies. I can't help thinking that though Jesus has been present in the Bender family all along, He will be present in an extra special way in the future.