The Theology of
Entrustment
A question that has been asked in recent decades, both for its
own sake and to avoid ecumenical misunderstandings about Catholic practices, is
what does it mean to be consecrated to a person other than God? Does such
consecration detract from the worship of Christ? Indeed, can we be consecrated
to someone other than God? Perhaps to avoid misunderstandings the Holy See
usually speaks of Entrustment, even though as we shall see both terms seem
appropriate, depending on circumstance.
What is Consecration
To consecrate something is to
make it sacred. The English term is derived from the Latin consecrare,
the root meaning of which "to make sacred," as in
cutting something off from profane or ordinary use so that it
will be available for Divine Service alone. This "setting
off" or "dedicating" of a thing, or a person,
to worship is accomplished by ritual prayer. We see this in
Scripture with the ceremonies performed for the dedication of
the Temple and its furnishing (Num. 7; Ezra 6:16-17), as well
as for the Ordination of the priests of both the Old and New
Covenants (Ex. 29:1-9; 1 Tim 4:14; see Acts 6:1-6 for
Deacons).
The Catholic Church continues
to "consecrate" things and persons to God. However,
since the Second Vatican Council a distinction has been made
between more solemn liturgical consecrations and less
solemn blessings. Churches, church bells and
individuals, given over entirely to Divine Worship by solemn
rites, are said to be consecrated. Pious objects, which
are set apart for the devotional use of individuals by a
simple rite, are said to be blessed. Finally, there is
the recent use of Entrustment for individuals and
communities who, whether by a solemn or simple rite, are
placed under Mary's protection. As Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, the
Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
has recently explained, entrustment acknowledges our need fro
help from God and is a plea for Mary's intercession for that
aid.
In the case of the Entrustment
of the Third Millennium to the Blessed Virgin Mary the Holy
Father would seem to be dedicating this world of space and time
to Jesus through Mary, to the Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart.
It is thus both an act of homage to Jesus through Our Lady,
recognizing their sovereignty over the Third Millennium, as
well as a prayer that mankind will correspond to that Kingship
and Queenship.
Baptism: the Foundational
Consecration
The essential, and
foundational, "setting apart for God" of the human
person is the Sacrament of Baptism. By Baptism we are
delivered from subjection to the devil and joined to Christ.
The catechism of the Catholic Church states,
CCC
1546 Christ, high priest and
unique mediator, has made of the Church "a kingdom,
priests for his God and Father." [Rev 1:6; 1 Pet 2:5,
9] The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly.
The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through
their participation, each according to his own vocation,
in Christ's mission as priest, prophet, and king. Through
the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful
are "consecrated to be ... a holy priesthood."
[Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church Lumen Gentium 10]
Thus, as far as persons are
concerned Baptism is the basis upon which all other uses of
the term consecration must be founded. Even in the case
of things, expressions such as "the baptism of the
bells" to refer to the consecration of Church bells,
brings us back to this reality. The Sacrament of Confirmation
then becomes for the Christian the deepening and confirming of
their baptismal consecration, enabling them to exercise the
Gifts of the Holy Spirit sealed in them, for the good of the
Church.
Why Mary?
An entirely logical question
then follows from the nature of consecration. If our baptismal
consecration to the Lord is basic, what reason would we have
for consecrating ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary? To
understand this it is necessary to understand the special role
which Mary has in the mysteries of the Incarnation and the
Redemption. Everything derives from her office as the Mother
of the Redeemer, giving Him, as she alone did, the human
nature in which He died for us and which was the instrumental
means of our salvation. Hers was not merely a human maternity,
but a predestined full participation in the Incarnation and
Redemption. The Catechism tells us,
CCC 501
Jesus is Mary's only son, but
her spiritual motherhood extends to all men whom indeed he
came to save: "The Son whom she brought forth is he
whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren,
that is, the faithful in whose generation and formulation
she cooperates with a mother's love."
CCC
725 Finally, through Mary, the
Holy Spirit begins to bring men, the objects of God's
merciful love, into communion with Christ. And the humble
are always the first to accept him: shepherds, magi,
Simeon and Anna, the bride and groom at Cana, and the
first disciples.
From the beginning of the
Christian era the Fathers of the Church saw in Marry the New
Eve, the Mother of All the Living in the order of grace, as
Eve was their mother in the order of nature. Mary is the New
Woman (Gen. 3:15), whose entirely faithful and fully graced
discipleship enabled her to perfectly cooperate with her Son
in the salvation of the world.
CCC
968 Her role in relation to the
Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a
wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience,
faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of
restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she
is a mother to us in the order of grace."
CCC
969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of
grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she
loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained
without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal
fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did
not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold
intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal
salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in
the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper,
Benefactress, and Mediatrix."
CCC
970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no
way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of
Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed
Virgin's salutary influence on men ...flows forth from the
superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his
mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power
from it." "No creature could ever be counted
along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as
the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by
his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of
God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so
also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude
but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is
but a sharing in this one source."
The Church is insistent, as
well, that Mary's maternal role in the order of grace is not
complete until each member of the Mystical Body, and the Body
as a whole, comes to the full stature of Christ (Eph.
4: 13).
CCC
829 "But while in the most
Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that
perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the
faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in
holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary": in her,
the Church is already the "all-holy."
CCC
972 After speaking of the Church,
her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way
to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate
what the Church already is in her mystery on her own
"pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the
homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the
glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity," "in
the communion of all the saints," the Church is awaited
by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her
own mother.
In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she
possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and
beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the
world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth, until the
day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and
comfort to the pilgrim People of God.
Mary's role is, of course, a
role with and in Christ. Her total dependence upon Him, and
total confidence in Him, is the reason we may safely and
legitimately entrust our Christian lives and eternal destiny
to her care.
CCC
964 Mary's role in the Church is
inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly
from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in
the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of
Christ's virginal conception up to his death"; it is
made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:
Thus the Blessed Virgin
advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully
persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There
she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with
her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering,
joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart,
and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim,
born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying
on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these
words: "Woman, behold your son."
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