Consecrating Russia and Ukraine to the Heart of Mary implies conversion and a change of behaviour. What will “the day after” be like?
Newsroom (25/03/2022, 6:10 PM, Gaudium Press) Drawing conclusions on the most recent Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a complex, even strenuous task.
On the one hand, we may feel inclined to see the gesture with good eyes: a more than excellent initiative, fulfilling what the Christian people have long been clamouring for decades.
On the other hand, it is crucial to be good observers of events, painting among copious and confusing data, a defined background where tomorrow’s picture may be sketched.
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Periods of intense turmoil, persecution and war often foreshadow substantial changes in souls and society. However, and to a large extent, they contribute to improving the Catholic world. Let’s invite our readers to recall and even research what history records about persecution times in a series of fascinating- facts:
-Christian Europe was born out of the hunt for primitive Christians, grown from seeds watered with Martyr’s blood.
-The Creed in its final form only flourished out of a faith trampled on by heresies.
-Souls of choice led the Church in the Rennaisance back to the path of virtue only after the Papacy was shocked by internal financial and moral conflicts.
-The dogma of the infallibility of the Chair of Peter only came after terrible persecutions almost extinguished the Papacy.
Yet, only one virtue would be able to sum these facts up as a powerful, common denominator: obedience.
-Obedience to the natural law imprinted by God in our soul;
-Obedience to God, through the law given by Him to us in His precepts and commandments;
-Obedience to the legitimate authorities, i.e. people invested with the responsibility of pointing out to humanity the course desired by God.
In this way, it seems fair to frame the present conjuncture in this vital point: obedience.
In other words, the Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a means chosen by Our Lady to bring humanity back to obedience to Our Lord and, in consequence, to her maternal voice.
Consequently, the future depends on this obedience as a decisive factor for souls and society to move towards virtue or vice.
The Consecration is a contract: if we ask for peace, we must be its promoters; if we pray our selfishness and indifference be undone, we need to embrace the profile of true Christians.
Therefore, it is crucial to listen to the voice of the Virgin in 1917: consecrating Russia, the Ukraine (and humanity) to her is the means; our obedient attitude to her must be the end.
Otherwise, how can the Immaculate Heart of Mary triumph?
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Let us pray, then, that from the ashes of this war, there may arise among faithful Catholics a fervent, intransigent and sincere response of obedience to the Immaculate Heart, as the only means of seeing, soon, a renewal of civil and spiritual society.
If this happens, looking in hindside at the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, we will well be able to repeat the famous utterance: “more than a crime, a mistake!” [1]
By Bonifácio Silvestre
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[1] A phrase uttered by Boulay de La Meurthe, erroneously attributed to Fouché or Talleyrand, on the occasion of the assassination of the Duke D’Enghien. The crime was ordered by Joseph Fouché in March 1804, during the frustrated attempt by Georges Cadoudal and Pichergu to re-establish the French monarchy.
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj.
