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During the diocesan staff\u2019s June 12, local celebration of the Consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Diocesan Director of the Office of Worship leads the Prayer of Consecration.<\/p>\nBy Jean Gonzalez, OSV News\u00a0<\/p>\n
ORLANDO, Fla. (OSV News) \u2014 A sea of white robes and zucchettos of pink and magenta in the pews. A statue of Jesus welcoming the faithful with his exposed\u00a0Sacred\u00a0Heart\u00a0upon the foot of the altar.<\/p>\n
During the diocesan staff\u2019s June 12, local celebration of the Consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Diocesan Director of the Office of Worship leads the Prayer of Consecration.<\/p>\n
A setting fit for a June 11 Mass that united U.S. bishops gathered for their spring plenary June 10-12. After concluding the second of two days of public sessions, they left the Omni Resort in ChampionsGate for a half-hour drive up Interstate 4 for the spiritual refuge that is the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe in Orlando.<\/p>\n
And the Mass was a momentous one as it served to formally consecrate the United States to the\u00a0Sacred\u00a0Heart\u00a0of Jesus, as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City incensed the altar after processing in from the thick humidity and cloudy skies of a typical Orlando afternoon outside the shrine. The president of the U.S. Conference of\u00a0Catholic\u00a0Bishops was joined on the altar by bishops and deacons of the Orlando Diocese.<\/p>\n
\u201cClothe us, Lord God, with the virtues of the\u00a0heart\u00a0of your son, and set us aflame with his love,\u201d the archbishop prayed in opening the Mass.<\/p>\n
More than 200 bishops were present, along with about 150 observers, mostly benefactors and staff of the Diocese of Orlando. The monstrance used ahead of Mass for Eucharistic adoration was from the Servants of the Pierced Hearts, a Miami-based religious institute.<\/p>\n
The relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque \u2014 the French Visitation sister who experienced visions of Jesus revealing his\u00a0Sacred\u00a0Heart\u00a0\u2014 were also present at the Mass, on loan for the\u00a0consecration\u00a0from the Knights of Columbus.<\/p>\n
In his homily, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore described the\u00a0Sacred\u00a0Heart\u00a0of Jesus not as an \u201cabstract devotion,\u201d but as a \u201cvisible sign of love.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained why the church consecrates. He described it as an act of faith and acknowledgment of the need for God\u2019s mercy, wisdom and guidance. It is also an act of hope. It is \u201ca\u00a0heart\u00a0that has known joy and sorrow, friendship and betrayal, suffering and sacrifice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The act of\u00a0consecration\u00a0is an act of faith and hope, the archbishop said, but it is also an acknowledgment of God\u2019s faithful work and love in the world and how we as people and as a church have not always \u201cclearly reflected that love.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed, it is sometimes obscured almost beyond recognition,\u201d the archbishop added. \u201cTo be sure, there have been moments of extraordinary witness and holiness. But there have also been moments of failure, division and sin.\u00a0Consecration\u00a0requires the humility to acknowledge both.\u201d<\/p>\n
And why the\u00a0Sacred\u00a0Heart? Because it reveals a savior who \u201cdesires not merely our obedience, but our friendship; not\u00a0simply\u00a0our service, but our communion with Him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo consecrate ourselves to the\u00a0Sacred\u00a0Heart\u00a0is ultimately to accept Christ\u2019s invitation to remain in His love and to allow that love to shape every aspect of our lives, public and private,\u201d Archbishop Lori said. \u201cIt is a declaration that the future does not belong merely to political movements, economic forces, or human plans. The future belongs to God.\u201d<\/p>\n
The act of\u00a0consecration\u00a0does not just happen among the shepherds, but also the sheep. In speaking to the laity both in the pews at the shrine and watching on the livestream, Archbishop Lori said the act of\u00a0consecration\u00a0is one the faithful and leaders do together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis\u00a0consecration\u00a0is not something the bishops do for you. It is something we do together,\u201d he said. \u201cThe renewal of the Church and our nation will not come through declarations alone. It will come through disciples who remain in Christ\u2019s love and bear the good fruit of holiness in families, parishes, communities and in their daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Sacred\u00a0Heart\u00a0reconciles divisions and transforms hardened hearts, the archbishop said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means building communities \u2014 ecclesial and civil \u2014 where truth is proclaimed clearly and charity is practiced generously. It means resisting the temptation to define ourselves by division, ideology or resentment,\u201d Archbishop Lori said. \u201cWe consecrate our nation, not because it is perfect, but because it is beloved by God. We entrust to the\u00a0Heart\u00a0of Christ our achievements and failures, our hopes and anxiety, our present challenges and our future aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jean Gonzalez, OSV News\u00a0 ORLANDO, Fla. (OSV News) \u2014 A sea of white robes and zucchettos of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-713770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}