Our Lady of Lourdes, the 32nd World Day of the Sick, and Marian Consecration

Each year on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, February 11, the Church celebrates the World Day of the Sick. This initiative was started by Pope St. John Paul II in 1992. Why on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes? From the time of Our Lady’s appearance to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 in the Grotto of Lourdes, France, the sick brought there have been cured of physical ailments. People have also been healed spiritually at that famous shrine.
           
This year Pope Francis has provided a beautiful message based on a verse from the Book of Genesis, “It is not good that man should be alone” (2:18). He wrote, “From the beginning God, who is love, created us for communion and endowed us with an innate capacity to enter into relationship with others.” How right he is! We are naturally created social beings bound to have relationships of love and respect with others. We are recreated in the waters of Baptism to enter into the communion of the Church, which is Christ’s Body on earth. In this communion of life and love, we are called to care for each other and especially for those who are vulnerable including the sick and infirmed. If you go to the Shrine of Lourdes in France, you will see this care in action as people lavish tender care on those who are ill, wheelchair bound, incurable, and spiritually destitute. It is truly a place of love where the Body of Christ, the Church is vibrant.
           
In our own diocese w have been focusing on a Marian movement that is profoundly spiritual promoting relationships of love.  It is Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary. On Tuesday, January 9, preparation for Total Consecration began with a gathering in St. Alexis Church in Wexford. Each Tuesday evening, a group of 200 people has been gathering to prepare for the consecration, which will take place on February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, at the Church of Sts. John and Paul. At each gathering, a speaker has given a formational talk about Our Lady and consecration, and concluded with the praying of the Rosary. Why are we doing this, and why is it important?
           
To understand its importance, first we look back to the origin of consecration to our Blessed Mother Mary and through her to her Son Jesus—back two thousand years to the Hill of Calvary. We hear the words of Jesus to His Mother, to St. John the Beloved Disciple, and to us.   Lord said to His Mother, “Woman, behold your Son” (Jn 19:26) and then to John, “Behold, your mother” (Jn 19:27). Then we hear, “And from that hour the disciple took her to his own” (Jn 19:27). In these few words, Jesus Himself establishes a bond between Our Lady and St. John and all of us. This relationship, established by the Savior Himself, is an unbreakable familial chain of love that helps us gain deeper insight into our communion with God Himself.
           
Second, we see that St. Louis de Montfort’s teaching about this consecration to Our Lady and her Son has been affirmed throughout the centuries in the deep and tender devotion of Christians to Mary. God raised up many holy people who taught and lived this relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Most recently, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. In an address to members of the religious order founded by St. Louis de Montfort, the Company of Mary, also known as the De Montfort Fathers, on the occasion of their 38th General Chapter in May of 2023, Pope Francis said this: “…last year, I chose to consecrate the Church and the entire world, especially Ukraine and Russia, to the Immaculate heart of Mary. And I ask you who are the Company of Mary, to renew this act of entrusting and supplication” (L’Osservatore Romano, number 21, Friday 26 May 2023).  As Pope Francis implied, this consecration to Our Blessed Lady is as relevant and important today as it was in the time of St. Louis de Montfort.
           
Finally, we find in the writings of St. Louis de Montfort what consecration to Mary and through Mary to Jesus should do in a person. Total Consecration is Christocentric and leads those consecrating themselves to Jesus Christ. Total Consecration is Trinitarian and deepens one’s relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Total Consecration is total. It is an active giving of absolutely “all” by a renewal of our baptismal promises. It is a total surrender to God to find true life in a relationship with Christ. Total Consecration is thoroughly Marian. St. Louis notes, “We consecrate ourselves at one and the same time to the Most Holy Virgin and to Jesus Christ…” Our Blessed Mother stands at the center of this consecration because it was she who first brought Jesus Christ to us by her “Fiat” and she brings us to Jesus Christ, because she has been given to us to be our Mother by the express desire of Christ who saind “Behold, your Mother.” Finally, Total Consecration is Apostolic. The ultimate goal of consecration is to bring about “the reign of Jesus Christ” (True Devotion, #227) by assembling “a great squadron of valiant soldiers of Jesus and Mary” (TD #114) and “true apostles of the latter times” (TD #58). It has the same purpose as the New Evangelization  - to raise up an army of apostolic men and women who will bring about a great renewal in the Church and bring the Gospel to many others. It is in perfect accord with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and every pope since. So we see that Total Consecration is about our relationship with Our Lord and His Mother and our relationship with one another in the Body of Christ, the Church.
           
Dear friends, on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the 32nd World Day for the Sick, a wonderful band of men and women in our diocese will consecrate themselves to Jesus and Mary and put themselves at the disposal of this Divine Son and His Blessed Mother, for the renewal of the Church and the evangelization of the world. Would you also give yourself to this Consecration and become part of this great endeavor to heal hearts and the afflictions of the world? Think about it. We plan on doing this consecration again soon.  Why not join us?

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh