............. First things first: here's part I ....................
The purpose of this article is to show that a consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is of a theological necessity or at least a theological convenience, even if Heaven had never mentioned it. Therefore, in this article and for the sake of argument we pretend that Our Lady never appeared at Fatima and that there was never a message.
Consequently we have to examine the following questions:
Why a consecration?
Why to Our Lady?
Why to Her Immaculate Heart?
Why Russia?
Why not just by the Pope, but by all bishops?
1. The Purpose and Necessity of Consecration
(Why a consecration?)
The word "consecration" is derived from the Latin word consecrare and in the times of Cicero it meant a dedication to the service of a god, and — in a derived meaning — to devote, to make holy.
In Christian times the meaning was deepened and extended at the same time. To consecrate now means to:
(1) Sanctify, hallow, recognize something as holy.
(2) Dedicate or consecrate a person to God, devote one’s life and
prerogatives to the service of God.
(3) Set some person or thing apart as sacred or dedicated to
sacred things.
(4) Administer, perform the ceremonies of consecration.
(5) Consecrate, exercise the power conferred on a priest at
ordination by changing bread and wine into the Body and Blood
of Christ at the consecration of Mass.
The third meaning, in a definition by St. Thomas Aquinas, is the most important for our consideration. As St. Thomas explains in his Commentary on the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus: "For whatever eminence of state the sanctification will be given, because there, a special help of grace is necessary, as in the consecration of kings, monks, and nuns ..."
Consecration as such has been required by God many times in Holy Scripture, as in the consecration of Joshua:
So the Lord said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the adventurous spirit and lay your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in". Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses (Num. 27:18-23).
And Joshua told the people: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you" (Jos. 3:5). In order to obtain a petitioned extraordinary grace, the Lord prescribes consecration:
Tell the people: "Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed: ‘If only we had meat to eat. We were better off in Egypt!’ Now the Lord will give you meat and you will eat it" (Num. 11: 18).
What is consecrated is set apart, it is holy, and it is set apart and sanctified for a specific purpose:
Moses said to the Lord, "The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy’ (Ex. 19:23). ‘I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy’ (Lev. 11:44). And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes’ ... After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them and they washed their clothes (Ex. 19:10, 14). He has declared that He will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations He has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised (Deut. 26:19).
The concept of setting one apart from all the rest is a fundamental precept of the Mosaic Law:
Set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male of your herds and flocks. Do not put the firstborn of your oxen to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep. (Deut. 15:19). Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them (Ex. 19:22).
The people have been set apart and consecrated, yet the priests are to be further set apart and consecrated for their specific mission which they do not share with the common people:
In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine (Num. 8:14). Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near Himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? (Num. 16:9)
Any consecration is specific. As it is not sufficient to consecrate the world as a whole to have Russia, Austria or any other country consecrated, it is not sufficient to have the people of Israel consecrated, it suffices even not to have the Levites consecrated, the individual must be consecrated namely, as we can see in the example of Aaron:
"And thou shalt speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s vestments, in which he being consecrated may minister to me ... And Aaron shall bear the iniquities of those things which the children of Israel have offered and sanctified, in all their gifts and offerings. … And with all these things thou shalt vest Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him. And thou shalt consecrate the hands of them all, and shall sanctify them, and they may do the office of priesthood unto me." (Ex. 28:3, 38, 41)
It is important to understand that a consecration renders something or someone acceptable to God, as the child becomes acceptable through baptism and the baptized is set apart at the ordination to the Sacred Priesthood.
A consecration is not done in any vague or haphazard manner, but it has to be celebrated according to detailed instructions, as the 29th chapter of the book of Exodus shows in 34 sentences. Similar instructions can be found in other books of the Pentateuch. For the last of our questions it will be important to understand that a consecration has to follow a solemn rite: There is a difference in graces granted for wearing a medal cursorily blessed by a mere sign of the cross or a Medal of St. Benedict, consecrated by a Benedictine equipped with faculties, Ritual and Holy Water!
The purpose of consecration is also atonement:
Moses slaughtered the bull and took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on all the horns of the altar to purify the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. So he consecrated it to make atonement for it (Lev. 8:15). They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no one else may eat them, because they are sacred (Ex. 29:33). For seven days make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy (Ex. 29:37). "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, the God of Israel has said’: There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst." (Joshua 7:11-13)
The final purpose of all creation and, therefore, also of consecration is the greater Glory of God: "... there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by My glory" (Ex. 29:43). God requires His glory not for Himself, but because of us, as St. Thomas says (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q.132, a. 1, ad.1).
Whatever is consecrated, belongs to God, unless it is desecrated:
And the Lord said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually" (3 Kings 9:3). Any consecration is indelible, remaining in the subject (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q.39, a.3). The consecration of a church must not be repeated, unless burnt down, or polluted by blood or seed (Summa Theologiae, III, q.83, a.3, ad 3). Therefore if a man cleanses himself from these things he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work (2 Tim. 2:21).
The entire history of the Church and her liturgical customs are definite proof of the necessity of consecration:
While a chapel may be blessed, the altar stone and the sacred vessels have to be consecrated. A church has to be consecrated in addition to the altar. A bishop is consecrated, a priest, a monk, a nun, and a virgin. Certain medals and holy objects have to be consecrated and until the reform of 1949 the palms on Palm Sunday and the Easter Candle were consecrated with consecratorial prefaces.
Whenever something is desecrated, it has to be made holy again by reconsecration. This is also true for ourselves as sinners who are - in a way - reconsecrated by the Sacraments if fallen into the state of mortal sin.
For the scope of this article the concept of consecration as atonement will be of utmost importance.