Ask CUF: What is Consecration to the Sacred Heart or Immaculate Heart?
What does it mean when someone consecrates himself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus or the Immaculate Heart of Mary? A consecration, strictly speaking, is the dedication of a person or thing to God and His service. As our Creator, only God has the right to our total dedication. In this sense, an act of consecration brings about a new status or condition of belonging exclusively to God. Consecration also refers to the conversion of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, the making of a bishop, the dedication of a church or chalice, etc. We are … Continue reading
Call Your Mother! The Why, What, and How of Marian Piety
During his famed Ratzinger Report interview with Italian journalist Vittorio Messori, the future Pope Benedict discussed the surprising decline in devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the perils for the Church that forgets Mary. But thanks in large part to the Marian pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI—in addition to a lively and energized Marian interest arising within the Church through the New Evangelization—believers everywhere are turning to her as a fountain of grace for their spiritual lives. The newly elected Pope Francis has already shown himself to be continuing in this vein, stopping to pray in Rome’s … Continue reading
