Why consecrate a country to the BVM?

[clarkgamble1]

**On several occasions I have read that the BVM has related to some of the seers that she is very unhappy that the church has not publicly consecrated Russia to her name. My question is, first, what does it mean to consecrate a country to her name? Then, what possible good would it do if that country had no interest in any beliefs, teachings, or visions claimed by the Catholic church to be her? I also have wondered why so many visions in the very poorest countries ask that some magnificent church be built there in her honor. Doesn’t sound like something coming from the mother of our savior. Sounds like something that would be demanded by the ego filled dictator of a third rate country.
**

 

[Kei]

I don’t know of any approved apparitions that would have this as happening.

In Fatima, she asked for Russia to be consecrated, but beyond that I don’t think I’ve heard of what you’re describing.

 

[midori]

re: “build a church in a third world country”, are you thinking of Kibeho in Rwanda?

To recap, the Kibeho apparitions began in 1981 and lasted through 1989. They were church-approved in 2001. Here’s a nice write-up about them.

So, it’s not just “build a building.” The message is, “Meditate on the Passion. Meditate on Mary’s dolors. Pray the rosary. Have fasts and silences.”

Not everyone there gets the same graces.

The students who had rosaries brought them to have them blessed by the Blessed Virgin. They were all mixed up together, so it was impossible for Alphonsine to know their owners. Alphonsine took the rosaries and offered them to the Blessed Virgin. Some rosaries became too heavy, and the seer could not lift them and ask for the blessing. One then noticed that the heavy Rosary in question belonged to a student who did not believe in the authenticity of the Apparitions, and who criticized them.

or

Towards the end of an Apparition, the Blessed Virgin asks the seers to bless the crowd. The seers are in ecstasy; they do not see the crowd, but a garden of flowers, some fresh, and others faded. Our Lady asks the seers to water the flowers, and explains that the fresh flowers represent people whose hearts are turned to God, whereas the faded flowers represent those whose hearts are turned to earthly things, especially to money.

 

[midori]

But it also served as a more temporal warning:

During his 1990 visit to Rwanda, John Paul II exhorted the faithful to turn to the Virgin as a simple and sure guide, and to pray for greater commitment against local divisions, both political and ethnic.

One of the key reasons that brought the competent ecclesiastical authorities to recognize the Apparition of Kibeho as authentic was the anticipated vision of the Rwanda genocide that occurred 12 years later, in 1994. On August 19, 1982, the seers saw “a river of blood, people who were killing each other, abandoned corpses with no one to bury them, a tree all in flames, bodies without their heads.” This prophecy seemed at first incredible, but about a decade later, in the spring of 1994, a horrifying civil war erupted in Rwanda, and, in just three months, an estimated 500,000 to one million were killed, many beheaded by machetes and dumped into the Kagea River (“river of blood”).

The Blessed Virgin had warned us at Kibeho that sexual promiscuity would lead to disaster. That was before the world knew about AIDS, but by 1994, Africa has seventy percent of the world’s AIDS cases – and entire villages were turned into ghost towns! So far, 25 million Africans have contracted AIDS.

But the warnings of the Blessed Virgin Mary were not just for Africa. “When I tell you this, I am not addressing myself strictly to you, child, but I am making this appeal to the world,” the Virgin told the seer Marie-Clare Mukangango – who was later killed in the war. She said the Virgin described the world as in revolt against God, the world “is on the edge of catastrophe.”

So, thinking that the focus is getting poor people to build great architecture is kind of missing the whole point. The point is the messages of prayer, and of penance, and of contrition, and of conversion, and of charity. That applies to everyone, whether they’re from rich or poor countries.

"I “I speak to you who hold power, and who represent the nation: save the people, instead of being their torturers. Don’t rob the people; share with others. Be careful not to persecute, to muzzle those who want to denounce your errors. I say it to you, I repeat it, whatever you do, even though you try everything to harm somebody because he loves his fellow men, defends human rights, fights for the respect of the life of others, and for the truth and all that is good, and even because he fights so that God may be loved and respected, whatever you do, you can do nothing against him.”

The Virgin also said to Alphonsine: “I love you very much. If I came, it is because you needed it.”

Those aren’t really the words of an ego-filled dictator of a third-rate country, even if you do ask for a church to be built as well.

 

[Bon_Croix]

Regarding consecration of nations in general…

Jesus is the “King of all Nations”. He holds an iron rod, etc…

It’s in the Book of Revelation.

 

[clarkgamble1]

My question is what does it mean to consecrate a country to her or to anyone or anything? I really don’t know what that means.

 

[Bon_Croix]

I think it is a formal act whereby you submit to the saint’s use of you as a tool.

 

[midori]

Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32“Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

So, the king with the 10,000 men is us. The king with the 20,000 men is God. We realize that we can’t defeat God, so, if we’re smart, we send a delegation and ask for God’s terms. And God tells us how we need to live our lives, and each of us is like a vassal-king who serves a great Emperor, and if we’re good vassal-kings, we’re pleasing to the Emperor, and if we’re rebellious, we know how it goes…

Now, imagine that you’re a vassal-king of a small and insignificant kingdom, and in the great political food-chain, you don’t approach the Emperor directly. Rather, you serve him by being the vassal of his most favorite vassal. Because remember, Mary’s whole purpose has always been to bring people to God. She never keeps anything for herself— she’s always bringing everything that comes her way to God. And sometimes, if we bring tribute that’s a little crooked, or a little flawed, she’ll make it a little shinier on our behalf before she gives it to God.

Now, imagine that the scale you’re looking at isn’t the individual scale, but that it’s a greater scale. Someone with the authority to do so will invoke the patronage of someone, and ask for their blessing and their protection. So it might be St. Genevieve for Paris, or it might be John the Baptist for Quebec or it might be St Charbel for Lebanon or Mary for Europe. But you ask them for their help, assistance, and protection, and entrust what is yours to their patronage.

 

[clarkgamble1]

My question is what does it mean to consecrate a country to her or to anyone or anything? I really don’t know what that means.

I really cant identify with all that medieval stuff. How about translating it into 21th century English??

 

[midori]

I’m hearing that as “I didn’t pay attention in class when we talked about world history, politics, and cultures-that-predate-the-internet.”

Things like fealty, patronage, and the protection of the strong over the weak have been building blocks of civilization since before there was recorded history. Historically speaking, people knew their place in society, and their relative status to everyone else in society as well. And it wasn’t until you get Christianity and its radical ideas of egalitarianism that you’re able to get away from it— that weird and revolutionary idea of the brotherhood and equality of mankind.

There are still countries-- mostly Asian ones-- where there are still very visible remnants of social strata. But through contact with the West, even that very strict social stratification that was in place in the last century or two has undergone drastic erosion.

But terms like “vassal” and “tribute” and “patronage” are still words a fifth or sixth grader comes across in social studies, not obscure fourth-year philosophical terminology. But I’ll give it a go:

Suppose God is like Alexander the Great. He’s a great conqueror. He’s coming for your kingdom (which is your soul). You know you can’t possibly defeat him on the battlefield, so you send your nobles to him to find out his terms for peace. God sez, “Your kingdom (your soul) belongs to me. You can keep being the boss of your kingdom/soul, but you need to serve me and give me presents.” And so you serve God and give him presents-- you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, comfort the sick, and all that jazz, for love of God. You bear wrongs patiently, comfort the sorrowful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner, counsel the doubtful, and pray for the living and the dead, all for the love of God. And those are the kinds of presents God wants.

Now, we’re jumping in scale. You can only give to God what’s yours to give to God, right? So I can’t give God Zimbabwe, because I don’t have any claim to Zimbabwe. But suppose the Bishops who are in charge of Zimbabwe, or the President of Zimbabwe, or someone like that, suppose they decide they want to consecrate Zimbabwe to God, and ask for his special grace and protection and blessing upon its citizens in their spiritual and temporal needs. So they might pick a saint who has a connection to that Country, and ask that saint to be their Strong and Influential Advocate to ask God for extra favor.

 

[PJM]

**On several occasions I have read that the BVM has related to some of the seers that she is very unhappy that the church has not publicly consecrated Russia to her name. My question is, first, what does it mean to consecrate a country to her name? Then, what possible good would it do if that country had no interest in any beliefs, teachings, or visions claimed by the Catholic church to be her? I also have wondered why so many visions in the very poorest countries ask that some magnificent church be built there in her honor. Doesn’t sound like something coming from the mother of our savior. Sounds like something that would be demanded by the ego filled dictator of a third rate country.

**

Because Mary the Mother of GOD commands it be done and nobody knows the Heart of Christ better tha She. So it is to be done.

Hail MAry FULL of Grace…

Pjm