Question: What, if any, is the difference between “entrustment” and “consecration”?
Even those with very little interest in things religious, while perhaps unable to fully articulate it, know that there is a difference; furthermore, they have a sense that it’s substantial.
Consider, pretty much every parent has at some point or another entrusted the care of their child to a babysitter. Many individuals entrust the management of their financial affairs to an accountant or investment advisor. Often, we entrust our healthcare, or that of our loved ones, to physicians or nurses.
You get the point. Entrustment is fairly commonplace. It’s something that all of us do in some way or another. Consecration, on the other hand, is far more rare; it is solemn, and it is sacred.
While consecration and entrustment are distinct from one another, the former in some way contains within itself the latter, but it also contains much more.
Consecration entails an act that is very similar in nature to the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Most Holy Rosary, the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple.
It is the conscious and deliberate setting aside of a person, place or thing for a sacred purpose; giving it over in its totality to Divine purposes, in such a way as to henceforth distinguish it from those things that are properly secular and profane.
Consecration goes well beyond the entrustment of certain needs to another, even religious needs and even to God; rather, it is the solemn act of completely relinquishing to the Divine Will, not only the full and complete use of persons, places or things, but also the giving over of the purposes and the ends for which they will be used.
This brings us to the activities in Rome on October 13, 2013.
When plans for the event were first made public in late August, it was widely reported, as for example in the UK’s Catholic Herald:
Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 13. The consecration will take place as part of a pilgrimage that will bring thousands of members of groups promoting Marian piety to the Vatican.
At some point, as the big day drew closer, however, it was more often reported that the pope was going to “entrust” the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; not necessarily “consecrate” it.
In the aftermath of the event, many outlets, such as the “Official Vatican Network” (news.va), are reporting, “Pope consecrates world to immaculate heart of Mary.”
Catholic News Agency, on the other hand, is reporting, “Pope entrusts world to Immaculate Heart of Mary”.
So, what exactly did he do?
Well, it appears that CNA, save for mentioning the Immaculate Heart, got it right.
According to Vatican Radio, which provided the Italian text of the Holy Father’s prayer as it was offered, and confirmed by Catholic Family News, the pope prayed:
Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima, with renewed gratitude for Your maternal presence we unite our voice with that of all the generations who call You blessed.
We celebrate in You the great works of God, Who never tires to incline with mercy on humanity,
afflicted by evil and wounded by sin, to heal it and save it.
Accept with the compassion of a Mother the act of entrustment which today we make with confidence, before this Your image to us so dear.
We are certain that each one of us is precious to Your eyes and that nothing which dwells in our hearts is unknown to You.
Let us reach Your sweet gaze and receive the consoling caress of Your smile. Guard our life in Your arms: bless and strengthen every good desire; revive and foster faith; sustain and illumine hope; create and enliven charity; guide all of us in the path of holiness.
Teach us Your same preferential love for the small and the poor,for the excluded and the suffering,
for sinners and the lost: gather all under Your protection and give all of us to Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Prayer of consecration? Hardly. It was a simple prayer of entrustment, and a generic one at that, asking of Our Lady nothing whatsoever that the average protestant could possibly find objectionable, like, for instance, the very notion of “consecrating” anything to Our Blessed Lady.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the pope’s prayer was just lovely, but let’s not pretend that it has any more heft than a well said Hail Mary.
(At this, I have sounded the neo-con papal apologist dinner bell. Look out for the herd.)
So, what does a prayer of consecration look like?
On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The prayer is worthy of reflection in its entirety, but I offer here, for brevity’s sake, just a few excerpts:
To You and to Your Immaculate Heart
In this tragic hour of human history
We entrust and consecrate ourselves,
And the Holy Church.
Notice that the Holy Father speaks of “entrusting” and “consecrating” separately. Why? For the simple reason that they are not one and the same.
The Holy Father continues:
We consecrate to You the whole world torn by bitter strife
And consumed by the fire of hatred
The victim of its own wickedness.
From there, Pope Pius XII prayed in a manner that some, perhaps even a certain successor, might criticize for being too “triumphalistic,” pleading Our Lady to “hasten the victory of the Kingdom of God.”
Clearly, the prayer of Pope Francis is something very different; in fact, precisely the difference between entrustment and consecration.
So, one wonders what changed? Was it ever the pope’s intention to consecrate? Was he talked out it? If so, by whom and for what reason? Was it deemed just a little too Catholic?
Only the pope knows for certain, but one thing we can say without any doubt is that Pope Francis did not, no matter what the ill-informed may say, consecrate the world the Immaculate Heart of Mary. More’s the pity.
Wooooooooooooow……
Just, WOW.
I, and many others,prayed a novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary leading up to this , um,” consecration” . Entrusting the world to her care sounds…..nice . But we are BEYOND DESPERATE for her maternal love and could really use that heal of hers, right about now.
This news just hurts.
Mary, Help of Christians- Pray for us!
Thank-you very much for this article.
I must admit I had never appreciated the difference.
He who distinguishes well, teaches well :`)
In Christ.
You couldn’t make it any clearer. On the other hand this pope likes to use words that are never clear. He has muddled every pronouncement and interview so far, leaving many confused in the wake. I do not think he has anything NEW (or even clear) to offer me about the faith…. I would wis that he was not given so much coverage each day…
oops–tried to say that I WISH he were not given so much daily coverage. Does anyone get the feeling that he tries to avoid words that are too CATHOLIC, for fear of offending those who are not??? My, my,–he is so politically correct!!
The failure to consecrate, which I thought {in horror,} I recognized in early reports yesterday, is just beyond heart wrenching.
Yes, Emily, thank you and I agree with you. The entire world longs for Her and longs for that which sets the Catholic Church as the One True Church. In my experience, it is clarity and pointed Truth that draws people to Holy Mother Church, and makes converts.
Ay, Louie. Your charity exceeds all bounds…. Not even a mention of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart…. Yes, this is what ecumenism looks like in practice. Not only will protestants be pleased, even non-Christians can think, “how nice”. it is a “nice” prayer isn’t it? But Catholic? Surely Our Lady of Fatima deserves better…. As for the “neo-con papal apologists”, the late Dr. William Marra had a word for them. He called them Papalotrists. I think what he meant by that was someone who idolizes the pope and therefore believes that the pope can do no wrong.
It’s looking more and more like Russia was consecrated by name in 1952 by Pope Pius XII. Imperfectly done without the Bishops, it was too late to stop WWII, The Holocaust and the Gulag. But it did prevent the Soviets from invading Europe and launching nukes at the US. It was as promised, a “certain” period of peace. A lot of us got to live our lives better than any previous generation. What do we have to show for it? If we cooperated with the great graces we were given by Our Heavenly Mother, we’ll make it home to Heaven. But how many millions missed out because Russia wasn’t consecrated correctly, in a timely manner and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was not established throughout the world?
Russia still needs to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart so that those people will convert to the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation. That’s what our Lady promised us. He must do it in union with the bishops of the world.
And when our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Sr. Lucia in 1929, He stated that like the kings of France they delay and fall into ruin.
The French Kings were asked in 1689 by our Lady and our Lord through St. Mary Alqoque to consecrate France to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. One hundred years to the very day the king was beheaded by that gruesome revolution. So 2017 is coming up, ever closer day by day…
1942 was the twenty-five-year anniversary of the Fatima apparitions. For the first time the public was made aware of the vision of hell, the prophecy of Russia’s errors and the Second World War, and the role of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Pope Pius XII delivered a radio message, in Portuguese, to the entire Portuguese nation, most of whom were listening. It was during this radio address that Pius consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with the following words:
“To You, to Your Immaculate Heart in this tragic hour of human history, we confide, we consecrate, we deliver, not only Holy Church, the mystical body of Your Jesus which bleeds and suffers in so many parts and is in so much tribulation, but also the whole world, torn by mortal discord, burning in the fires of hate, victim of its own iniquity……
‘Queen of Peace, pray for us and give peace to the world at war, that peace for which the peoples sigh, peace in the truth, the justice, the charity of Christ.” Interestingly, Pius XII did not consecrate Russia by name. Here is his exact words:
‘Give peace to the peoples separated from Us by error or by schism, and especially to the one who professes such singular devotion to Thee and in whose homes an honored place was ever accorded Thy venerable icon (today perhaps often kept hidden to await better days); bring them back to the one fold of Christ under the one true Shepherd.” It should be recalled that this request concerned shortening the war, not the triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
During the reign of Pope Pius XII, the Pope of Fatima, leader of the impregnable ‘pre-Vatican II’ Church, here was Sister Lucy…….who scrupulously obeyed her religious superiors…….advising Catholics not to look to the Holy Father or the bishops for guidance! If possible her message becomes even more alarming:
‘……the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. A decisive battle is the final battle where one wide will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Hence from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil. There is no other possibility.’
1) Conversion can also me a turning away from overt aggression, like it says in Proverbs 16:7, “he will convert even his enemies to peace”.
2) Helina, Pius XII did two consecrations. The one you quoted in 1942 and ten years later in which he names Russia specifically:
“Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this
Immaculate Heart.”
One more thing, Andrew, the consecration of Russia wasn’t formally requested until 1929. Your 100 year deadline won’t be up until 2029. Do you think the world can hold together until 2029?
Rushintuit…….if Pius XII did consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary…….then why we are still talking about it? Then, why do we beg Pope after Pope to do the ‘consecration’, NOT of the world…….. this is not Our Lady asked…….but, ‘RUSSIA’.
…….seems then, that there’s ‘much to do about nothing’……..bunch of lunatics running around, making lots of noise about the Third Secret, about Holy Father consecrating RUSSIA to the Immaculate Heart, in communion with all the bishops of the world………..Ave Maria!
@ Rushintuit October 16, 2013 12:36 am,
like many Westerners you make the assumption that Europe wasn’t taken over because France, German (West) or Italy was not under communist rule. However, there is so much more to Europe than west. Nearly half of Europe was taken by the Soviet Union, including my beloved country, Poland. Additionally, Russia was spreading her errors in Cuba, South America. Also, don’t forget Egypt and Angola in Africa or Cambodia, Vietnam and of course China in Asia, and many, many more.
Sorry, but many Westerners are either ignorant or self-centred to see beyond their safe little corner of the earth.
Halina, The Vatican is ecstatic over the world’s obsession with Russia. It was the Russia obsession that wrongly made John Paul II the hero of Fatima. JPII was the first Pope to visit a Synagogue, co-worship with Protestants, take a trainload of Pagans to Assisi and desecrate holy altars reserved for the True Faith, kiss the Quoran, etc. But because he was the Hero of Fatima, all of this was overlooked and permanently introduced into the Papal mode of operations!!! So I ask you, is this obsession with the conversion of Russia really helping the situation?
Rushintuit, I don’t know, there is disagreement among those who believe in the apparitions and prophecies of Fatima. Whether it be 1929 or 1917 is an unknown. Also the request for the consecration is that it be done in union with all the bishops of the world at the same time. None of the popes have done this. And I’m not sure if I believe you that our Lady requested Russia as late as 1929, since by then the atheistic Soviet Union was already a killing machine. She did indeed request the consecration in 1917, before the communist revolution there. Just as the other two secrets contain predictions of the future.
Hi Andrew, the 06-13-1929 date is a true one. It gets better. Our Lady came to Tuy, Spain with the request just days after the Lateran Treaty was ratified. The Treaty setup the Vatican as an independent monarchy. Was Our Lady calling our attention to the treaty for some reason. Later, Sister Lucy said that the Secret of Fatima was in the book of the Apocalypse chapters 8 to 13. Glean what you may from those chapters, but chapter 14 is all about avenging Angels being sent out to reap the harvest of the earth. The Apocalypse states that blood will flow as high as a horses bridle. So it could be that we have had a “certain” period of peace on the one hand, while Lucifer was able to do his greatest attacks on the Catholic Faith. All because the consecration of Russia was not done correctly with all the Bishops as well as the devotion to Our Lady was never “established” in the world as requested. Those two things should have been accomplished immediately in the year they were requested, 1929.
Zenit reports the translation of Pope Francis’ prayer this way:
Prayer of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary
VATICAN CITY, October 13, 2013 (Zenit.org) – Here is the translation of the prayer of consecration recited by Pope Francis in consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
* * *
Holy Mary Virgin of Fatima, with renewed gratitude for your maternal presence we join our voice to that of all the generations who call you blessed.
We celebrate in you the works of God, who never tires of looking down with mercy upon humanity, afflicted with the wound of sin, to heal it and save it.
Accept with the benevolence of a Mother the act of consecration that we perform today with confidence, before this image of you that is so dear to us.
We are certain that each of us is precious in your eyes and that nothing of all that lives in our hearts is unknown to you.
We let ourselves be touched by your most sweet regard and we welcome the consoling caress of your smile. Hold our life in your arms: bless and strengthen every desire for good; revive and nourish faith; sustain and enlighten hope; awaken and animate charity; guide all of us along the path of holiness.
Teach us your own preferential love for the little and the poor, for the excluded and the suffering,
for sinners and the downhearted: bring everyone under your protection and entrust everyone to your beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
[Translation by Joseph Trabbic]
The original Italian text published by Vatican Radio, and confirmed by people there present, states, “l’atto di affidamento…”
Even with my limited ability to read Italian, I know that “l’atto di affidamento” is “the act of entrusting.” The word “consacrazione” (consecration) appears nowhere in the text.
Apparently, the lack of concern for precision is contagious.
Well when I read the Lateran Treaty I remember it stated that Italy was to have Catholicism as the state religion, whereas I don’t remember the Vatican having any state religion mentioned.
I made this same conclusion several days ago on October 13 and discuss it on my website.
See my comments here: http://twoheartspress.com/uncategorized/pope-francis-welcomes-our-lady-of-fatima-statue/
…but WHAT of the Friars of the Immaculata???
Tell us plainly!
Thank you!
After much expectation, this? It is symptomatic of the chaotic times we live in. A Pope who seems unsure what he is doing, top Catholic news agencies contradicting each other, doubt, confusion, disappointment. But let’s not forget she said: “In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
I totally agree. Francis did not consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at all. Making the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is good, however, use the exact words. In addition, Our Lady of Fatima specifically requested that the Holy Father and all the Bishops in the world in communion with him to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. This has not been done as of yet. What are they waiting for? In the end, her Immaculate Heart will triumph.