Public Consecrations of countries to God
in which political leaders have a role are unprecedented in modern times, but
recently three sovereign nations have done so.
That gives hope for the world that is rapidly sliding into materialistic
secularism……Poland, Peru, and the Ukraine for a start, and
the Church in Russia is beginning to bloom.
Poland Recognizes Christ as Their King
Historically, Poland has been a
staunchly Catholic country, strong even under Communism. However, as a
member of the very secular European Union, it had been slipping. Ten
years ago while my wife was taking care of her ailing father, I taught at a
local college and my four kids were going to a Polish school. From my reading about a failed Polish
parliamentary resolution I asked about the idea of declaring Christ the King of
Poland among priests and others. There
didn’t seem to be much interest. One
priest was hung up about separation of Church and state.
But to my
surprise a week ago on November 19, the eve of the great Feast of Christ the
King, during a solemn ceremony at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow, the
Catholic bishops of Poland officially recognized Christ as King of Poland. Furthermore, the consecration was carried out in the
presence of Polish President Andrzej Duda, implying presidential approval. The consecration Mass was officiated by St. Pope John Paul’s former
secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. On the actual feast, the Polish people followed that up by consecrating
Poland and themselves to Christ the King in every parish in the country after a
novena of preparation. See http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/christ-recognized-as-king-of-poland and http://www.sspx.org/en/news-events/news/polish-recognition-christ-king and also http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/polish-bishops-and-president-duda-declare-christ-king-poland.
Christ the King has a biblical basis.
It was prophesied several times, especially in the Old Testament Book
of Isaiah that the Messiah would be a king in the royal line of David and His
kingdom would last forever. In Luke 1:31-33
of the New Testament the Archangel Gabriel says to Mary: “Behold, you will conceive in your
womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of
the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and
he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be
no end."
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By his presence at the Consecration Mass the
President of Poland Andrzej Duda gives official recognition of Christ as King
of Poland.
The action of the Polish bishops is
consistent with Pope Pius XI's 1925 encyclical "Quas Primas," which
solidified the devotion to Christ the King and established the feast. He wrote: "When once men recognize,
both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last
receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and
harmony………Our Lord's regal office invests the human authority of princes and
rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen's duty of
obedience…….Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast
that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give
public honor and obedience to Christ." See http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas.html.
This encyclical was Pius XI’s
response to growing nationalism and secularism…….the promotion of human
development through material means with no role for faith, religion, or belief
in God. In secular states, there may be
freedom of worship within the home or church building, but freedom of religion
outside of the church building to practice the faith, follow basic beliefs, and
have an influence in the public square through its own publications, schools, hospitals, etc. is restricted if not eliminated. Secularism breeds an erosion of basic God given freedoms and rights.
The official statement/prayer of the
Episcopate of Poland regarding the act of recognition of Christ as King of
Poland reads as follows:
“We profess in face of God and Earth, that we
need your rule. We profess, that you and only you have holy rights to us that
never expired. Therefore with humility we bend our heads to you, The Lord of
the Universe, and we recognize your rule over Poland and our whole nation, that
lives in the motherland and away in the wide world. Hereby Poland in the
1,050th anniversary of its baptism, solemnly recognizes the rule of Jesus
Christ.”
This
recognition of Christ as King of Poland complements the historical title of the
Queen Mother Mary as Queen of Poland declared by King John Casimir in 1656
after 70 monks and 180 locals defended the Monastery of Jasna Góra that housed
the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa against a Swedish force of 4,000.
The defeat
of radical Islam (the Ottoman Turks with 200,000 troops) on September 11, 1683
by King Sobieski and the repulsion of the invasion of over 100,000 Soviet
troops on the Feast of the Assumption August 15, 1920 are attributed by Poles to
Mary’s intercession.
Had the
Ottoman Turks won in 1683, radical Islam would have been largely unopposed in conquering Rome and
fulfilling their dream of hoisting the Islamic flag over the Basilica of St.
Peter in Rome. Today ISIS has the same
dream and has made no secret of it.
The Battle of Warsaw (1920) is often called the “Miracle on the Vistula”
or in Polish “Cud nad Wisla”. Had the
Soviets won in 1920 they could have advanced to the English Channel since the
armies of Western Europe were exhausted and weak. Then all of Europe would have been Communist
at least for a time. A Communist Reign
of Terror ruled Hungary for six months in 1919 until repulsed by Admiral
Horthy. My father lived under it and
shared his experience under it many times.
Clearly, God
is in control of History.
Videos on the Battle of Vienna include
a 49 minute documentary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc-RWtovrqg and
a full length movie at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvoRuO3g9Ew. The same is dubbed in Polish at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCr1TmqxO5Q. Two fascinating videos on the Battle
of Warsaw include https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SSaQbQiW9s, a
documentary analysis of the battle. A full
length movie on the Battle of Warsaw in Polish can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksf7fmTGuUc.
For a shorter 38 minute version of the
same movie in Polish with English subtitles, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4I61EkSdgg
Consecration of Perú
A month before the President of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (78), an alumnus of both Oxford and Princeton, former functionary of the World Bank, successful investment banker in the United States, and economist, officially consecrated Peru to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the National Prayer Breakfast on October 21, 2016 in Lima. Interesting is that the President of Peru is the son of Polish/German father and French mother who immigrated to Perú. Having Jewish roots and a renowned pathologist, they had fled Nazism in 1933. See http://perureports.com/pedro-pablo-kuczynski/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Pablo_Kuczynski.
The purpose of the
annual prayer breakfast in Peru is to bring a message of optimism and
reconciliation. Kuczynski was the first
Peruvian president to attend one of the 21 breakfasts to date. This year’s theme was the “Mercy of the Love
of God”.
 In his
speech, Kuczynski proclaimed: "By the authority vested in me, I make
an act of consecration of myself, my family and the Republic of Peru to the
love and protection of Almighty God through the intercession of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I place in your loving hands
my government with all of its workers and citizens that are under my
responsibility. I offer to God Almighty my thoughts and decisions as President
so that I may use them for the good of our country and always be conscious of
the Ten Commandments in governing it.” He asked for God’s forgiveness “for
all the transgressions I may have committed in the past, all those committed by
the Republic in the past, and for all those decisions that may have been made
contrary to his commandments and I ask for his help in changing everything that
separates us from Him.” For more detail in Spanish, see http://diocesisdecelayamx.blogspot.com/2016/10/video-presidente-kuczynski-consagra-el.html and the
video of the consecration speech http://aciprensamx.blogspot.com/2016/10/video-presidente-kuczynski-consagra-el.html and http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/peruvian-president-consecrates-nation-to-sacred-heart-immaculate-heart-23070/ as well as http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/peru-consecrated-to-the-sacred-and-immaculate-hearts in
English.
I’m
especially proud of Perú because I spent 14 years (1965 – 1982) of my life in
Arequipa, teaching at the universities of Santa María and San Agustín. Hundreds of missionaries from all over the
world gave their lives to Perú…….USA, Spain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy,
Malta, etc. I would like to think that
the Lord used us to make a difference, small but significant. What a privilege! Consecration
of Ecuador
Art. 1: The Republic of Ecuador
consecrates itself to the Holy Heart of Jesus, proclaiming it as Patron and
Protector.
Art. 2: The
Feast of that same Sacred Heart of Jesus is prescribed as a civil first-class
holy day, to be observed in every cathedral of this Republic by diocesan
prelates with all possible ceremony. Consecration of Ukraine
His words in Fatima are as follows: “Mary, we stand today before your countenance
and consecrate to your Immaculate Heart and place under your protection the Ukraine
and other Eastern European nations and the world. We offer you all the pain and
suffering of Ukraine, because only through conversion and repentance comes
peace. Receive our offering and save our people and our land and the world from
sin and death.” For greater
detail see http://op54rosary.ning.com/forum/topics/ukraine-consecrated-to-the-immaculate-heart and http://news.ugcc.ua/en/news/the_head_of_the_ugcc_in_fatima_consecrated_ukraine_to_the_immaculate_heart_of_mary_77901.html.
The country is mired in a war since 2014 with ethnic Russian
speaking Ukrainian separatists, who with the help of Russia are bent upon having
eastern Ukraine annexed to Russia. Ukraine had already been forcibly absorbed by the very repressive atheistic Soviet
Union from 1919 to 1991, when it finally obtained its independence. For more detail see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_pro-Russian_unrest_in_Ukraine.
In Russia of all places the faith is
growing as never before since the consecration of Russia by St. Pope John Paul
II in union with the bishops of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in
1984……..the number of churches has increased from 400 to 30,000; monasteries
from 22 to 800, and schools of theology from 0 to 100. See http://paulrsebastianphd.blogspot.com/2016/10/177-consecration-to-immaculate-heart.html for the
time line after the consecration.
Not
a Theocracy. The
consecrations in Poland, Peru, Ecuador, and Ukraine in no way mean any dictatorial
theocracy like Sharia Law or a decrease in democracy. All basic human rights remain and
constitutional guarantees remain intact.
Man will always have a free will.
However, the people prayerfully place their countries in the hands of
God, and entrust their nations to Him, asking for His guidance and
protection. They aspire to a mindset that
prayerfully seeks the will of God in all policies and decision making as well
as faithfulness to Him, His Ten Commandments, and the moral/social teachings of
the Church which invariably have a biblical basis. An individual or a Country can never go wrong
by trusting in the will of God which is always for the best in the long run.
The consecration may be to the Immaculate
Heart, i.e., as most Catholics believe in the path to Jesus through Mary since
her mission is to bring souls to her Son.
The Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart are united as one. Thus her will is God’s will. After all, Mary received her great mission
from the Father to conceive by the Holy Spirit her spouse and give birth to the
Son of God.
A Country faithful to its consecration has
a much better chance for social order, tranquility, and just socioeconomic development within its
borders than under secularism and the chaotic moral relativism where everybody
does what is right in his/her own mind, the same mentality that led to the ruin of Sodom
and Gomorra.
One can also make an individual
consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort. See http://www.iipg.org/consecration1.htm.
May other countries follow the example of
Ecuador, Peru, Ukraine, and Poland.
May these initial consecrations be part of a trend that will bring all
nations back to God who loves us infinitely and thirsts for souls and their
love.
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