Consecration

This search of man's heart ends when one discovers God's Heart. On this topic, St. Augustine says: "You made us for yourself, Oh God, and our heart is restless until it rests in you". The concern to which St. Augustine refers is the difficulty we all have in attaining true Love as a consequence of our condition of creatures; we are finite; moreover, we are sinners. Over and over again we run into the difficulty of our selfishness, the chaos of our passions, that throws away this true Love. Man's heart "needs" a heart at his same level, a heart that can enter into his history, and, on the other hand, an "all-powerful" heart that can take him out of his limitations and sins. We can say that In Jesus Christ, God has met mankind and has loved us with a "human heart". In the encounter of man's heart with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the mystery of salvation becomes real. "In fact, from the infinite horizon of his love, God wished to enter into the limits of human history and the human condition. He took on a body and a heart. Thus, we can contemplate and encounter the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene" (Benedict XVI, Angelus, 1/VI/2008)....

[I]n the Cross, Jesus changes our "heart of stone" wounded by sin, into a "heart of flesh", like his: he gives us his Love and, at the same time, he enables us to love with his same love....

Holiness is an immersion in the flow of love that springs up from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. "Cardinal Newman's motto, Cor ad cor loquitur, or "Heart speaks unto heart", gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God." (Benedict XVI, Homily in the Beatification of Venerable Cardinal Newman)....

 

Consecration is an act of faith. When Pope Benedict will consecrate us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he will invite us to confess our faith: "We firmly believe that Jesus Christ offered himself on the Cross in order to give us his love. In his passion, he bore our sufferings, took upon himself our sins, obtained forgiveness for us and reconciled us with God the Father, opening for us the way to eternal life." (WYD Message). This confession of faith will be done from the knowledge of the truth we proclaim, and as a result of our personal relationship with Christ. This relationship is based in the trust in the love of his Heart. In this confession of faith, the Bishops will join the Pope. This means "that our personal faith in Christ is bound to the faith of the Church." (Message WYD). It is in the "heart of the Church" where we can feel the beat of the Heart of Jesus.

It 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). United in "only one Heart", we will ask together, with the whole Church, "Come Lord Jesus", help the youth of the third millennium to be the builders of the civilization of love which is built "wherever individuals and nations accept God's presence, worship him in truth and listen to his voice" (WYD message).

Finally, consecration is an act of charity. The youth of the third millennium, like the apostle Thomas, wish to "have tangible contact with Jesus and to put our hand, so to speak, upon the signs of his Passion, the signs of his love" (WYD message). In this consecration we will touch Jesus, and we will renew the grace of our baptism in which we were immersed in this Love. The desire we have of constantly drinking from the source from which eternal life flows, i.e. the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance will be strengthened in us. We will look with his same merciful eyes, so that we are always close to the poorest and the sick, becoming a tangible sign of God's love.