Well, it was certainly a wonderful moment of grace. All across our land, on the Canada Day weekend, our country’s Bishops consecrated their respective Dioceses to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this way the whole of our country was entrusted to the maternal care and protection of the Mother of God.
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| Statue of Mary which Bishop Grandin knelt to consecrate the Diocese of St Albert to Mary. |
It was not the first time that this was done. A national
consecration occurred during a Marian Congress in Ottawa in 1947. Here in the
Edmonton area, our first Bishop, Most Rev. Vital Grandin, consecrated his new
Diocese of St. Albert (which later became the Archdiocese of Edmonton) to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. (Incidentally, for the consecration this weekend at
St Joseph’s Basilica we knelt at the same Marian statue before which Bishop
Grandin offered his prayer of consecration in 1871.)
So, why the re-consecration? Like children do with their own
mothers, we instinctively turn to our Heavenly Mother in times of need. As we
mark 150 years of Confederation in Canada, we are conscious of great need among
our people. Yes, we have many blessings here, for which we are grateful to
Almighty God. In many ways, Canada is a wonderful place to live. At the same
time, we are aware of troubling trends and worrisome patterns that demonstrate
a collective drift from Christ and his teachings. For this reason, we have
turned to Mary, asking for her intercession, that we will be brought back to
her son Jesus, or, indeed, will be led to discover Him if He is not yet known.
We have made this act of consecration, this act of entrustment to Mary’s
maternal care, with great confidence that she will hear our prayers and answer.
Thus we are certain that God, in response to Mary’s plea on our behalf, will
pour many graces upon our land.
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| Grotto at Mission Hill in St Albert. |
And now…? What more must we do? Mary herself shows us. In her
response to the angel Gabriel, “Be it done unto me according to thy word,” she
shows us that our response to the grace the Lord wills to give us must be that
of complete surrender to the will of God. Concretely, this means staying close
to Jesus: by listening daily to His Word in Sacred Scripture, we become attuned
to God’s will; by regular participation in the sacraments we are strengthened
by God’s mercy to live the holy lives to which he calls us. It also means
staying close to Mary: by renewing the prayer of consecration and by praying
the Rosary each day, we keep our hearts and minds directed towards her, who
seeks always to lead us to her son, Jesus. Stay close to Jesus in faith; stay
close to Mary in trust. In so doing, our hearts are disposed to receive, and be
transformed by, the love and mercy of God. In so doing, we shall see the act of
consecration we made this past weekend bear great fruit for the good of our
country in the years ahead.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Canada, pray for us!
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| St Mary's Cathedral, Calgary |
