PRIESTS AND CONSECRATION

Besides the messages associated with the major Fatima apparitions, there were other revelations given by Our Lady. Before Jacinta died, she told of other messages given her [during her illness] by Mary: "…Priests must be pure, very pure. They should not busy themselves with anything except what concerns the Church and souls. The disobedience of priests, to their superiors and to the Holy Father, is very displeasing to Our Lord.'"^{2 3}

There is the connection between the priest and Christ: how "one" the priest is with Christ.

Christ is the principal Priest. The priest, in his union with Him, must pray for the greatest union with Christ. Christ is the Chief Priest. The priest puts on Christ, Christ is offering the sacrifice through the priest.

We unite proportionally to Christ depending on our degree of holiness. Mary told Jacinta that priests must be pure and holy.

We must forever strive to offer the most holy sacrifice to the Father, being one with Christ. It is in the offering of this holy sacrifice that enormous amounts of grace flow. The priest must be pure and one with Christ in offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The oneness of the body of Christ depends on the oneness of His holy priests with Him. It is in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, when God gives to us His Body and Blood, that we are most united in Him. The Church is the body of Christ. He feeds us with His Body. We are one in Him.

I receive Jesus in the Eucharist; I become one in Him.

You receive Jesus in the Eucharist; you become one in Him.

We are one, proportionally, according to how we give ourselves to Him.

Highest holiness, greatest oneness, is achieved by being one in Him.

The body of Christ will be one, in the deepest unity, depending on the degree of oneness of the priest with Christ and the oneness of the people with Him.

We are to be one body in Him. When He gives us His Body, we are most one in Him.

The priest is the key for an enormous amount of grace to be released.

Mary told Jacinta, "…that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary."⁴ Mary also said that priests must be pure. Priests must give their hearts to the one, pure and sinless one, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is in this union with Mary that we unite deeply with Christ.

Priests will not reach the degree of purity she refers to unless they give their hearts to her. It is in this purity, they become one with Christ and offer a holy sacrifice. It is in this oneness with Christ that an enormous amount of grace and mercy flows when a holy priest administers the Sacraments and celebrates the Mass. Oh, the people are hungry. Oh, the people are thirsty for an outpouring of His abundant life. The world longs for this outpouring of His grace.

Mary tells us we must consecrate our hearts to her. To go deeply into the Heart of Christ, we must give our heart to Mary.

What of the starving faithful, those attending Mass, wishing to partake more fully in the Holy Sacrifice? There must be a strong union between the priest and Christ.

The priest must strive to be so one with Christ. The people receive a great connection to be mystically united with Christ through the priest.

It is a most intense, mystical union - this great connection between priest, faithful, and Christ. It is the oneness that Christ wants for His body, the Church. He wants this mystical union to be very strong between the priest and Him, and the priest and the faithful.

Oneness is greatly achieved in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The priest must be pure to be one with Christ. The priest must consecrate his heart to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. There is a fountain of life flowing from the pierced Heart of Jesus. He is giving us the grace to be deeply united to His Heart. He is giving us the grace to help spread the consecration to the priests. In order to have immense union in a parish, both priest and people must consecrate their hearts to Jesus and Mary. There must be this connection of the priest to Their Hearts. The priest must be pure to be one with Christ. He cannot reach this degree of purity unless he gives himself to the pure heart of Mary. There is a fountain of life flowing from His pierced Heart. The fountain pours forth His divine grace more abundantly when the priest is united to Their Hearts.

Mary gave the message to Jacinta that the priests must have pure hearts. We are tainted by original sin. The priest is tainted by original sin. He must go through Mary to be pure enough to unite in the deepest union with Christ.

Love is in the heart. Many priests recite the words without love in their hearts. The grace flows copiously depending on the degree of the connection between the priest's heart and Christ's Heart.

The heart is the way we connect to God. The Church was formed from the pierced Heart of Christ. The Church is the body of Christ. His life flows in the Church.

The heart is the life of the body. The Heart of Christ is the life of the body of Christ. From His pierced Heart, the Church was born. Our life flows through the Heart of Christ.

We cannot be one body without the Heart of Christ pumping its life to its members. If they are cut off from the Source of life, they wither and die.

A priest celebrating the Mass must be united in his heart to Christ. It is from the Heart of Christ that His divine life flows. A Mass that is celebrated in which the priest speaks words and is not united in his heart to Christ is a Mass in which a lesser amount of His life flows from His pierced Heart.

In order for the priest to be connected in the deepest union to the Heart of Christ, he must consecrate his heart to Jesus' Sacred Heart and the heart of Mary. Because of our sins and our fallen, human nature, we must go through the one, pure, Immaculate one, Mary. Then, we can be deeply united in His Heart.

How can impurity unite deeply to purity? How? We go through the pure one, she holds us in her heart and we go deeply into the Heart of Christ. She is the only sinless human person.

So the devil has waged a war against the priests and Mary. The priest will not achieve great holiness without giving his heart to Mary. He cannot unite deeply in the Heart of Christ without her pure and sinless heart.

The grace will not flow abundantly, to feed the people, without this connection to Mary.

Life flows in the heart. Priests must love God with their hearts. A priest celebrating the Mass who is not united deeply in his heart with Christ lessens the flow of great grace from the fountain of His divine life.

It will be open, flowing at full force, according to how deeply the priest has united to the Heart of Jesus. This does not happen without the priest giving his heart first to Mary.

Union of the body of Christ is centered around this consecration and the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice by these holy and pure priests.

Our home is the Heart of Christ. When we consecrate our hearts to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we dwell within Their Hearts. This is our little heaven on earth.

As Fr. Carter states:

This last message offers us an excellent opportunity to summarize the Fatima message. It tells us "that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary."4

At the center of the veneration for which Our Lord calls is the act of consecration to His Sacred Heart and to Mary's Immaculate Heart…As such, consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary summarizes the Fatima message.⁵

Ezekiel 34:11-16:

For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it. As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered on the day of clouds and darkness. I shall bring them back from the peoples where they are; I shall gather them back from the countries and bring them back to their own land. I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the inhabited parts of the country. I shall feed them in good pasturage; the highest mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground. There they will rest in good grazing grounds; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. I myself shall pasture my sheep, I myself shall give them rest- declares the Lord Yahweh. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the injured and make the sick strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.

It is through the consecration that the strayed ones will be led to His Heart. Mary told Jacinta that we must venerate His Heart next to hers. It is through the consecration that the strayed ones are led to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. We must spread this consecration to the world. It is in the heart of Mary that the Holy Spirit works to sanctify us and to give us insights, lights, into the divine mysteries. Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is a great aid to growth in holiness. As we all give our hearts to Jesus and Mary, we will be one flock with one Shepherd. The Good Shepherd will rescue us on the day of clouds and darkness. He will feed us on good grazing ground. He will look for the lost ones and bring back the strays. He will bandage the injured and make the sick strong.

What follows is the consecration that we pray many times a day to bind us in one heart. It is very important to pray the Holy Spirit Prayer and the consecration prayers before Mass to join us in one heart in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Priests should pray this consecration with the people before Mass. Our Lady has asked us at Fatima for devotion to her Immaculate Heart. She told Jacinta, "Tell everybody that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask grace from her, and that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary."⁶ What follows is the Holy Spirit prayer and the consecration prayers used by our members of Shepherds of Christ Associates.

Come, Holy Spirit, almighty Sanctifier, God of love, who filled the Virgin Mary with grace, who wonderfully changed the hearts of the apostles, who endowed all Your martyrs with miraculous courage, come and sanctify us. Enlighten our minds, strengthen our wills, purify our consciences, rectify our judgment, set our hearts on fire, and preserve us from the misfortunes of resisting Your inspirations. Amen.⁷

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE SACRED HEART
OF JESUS AND THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Lord Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock, I consecrate myself to Your most Sacred Heart. From Your pierced Heart the Church was born, the Church You have called me, as a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, to serve in a most special way. You reveal Your Heart as a symbol of Your love in all its aspects, including Your most special love for me, whom You have chosen as Your companion in this most important work. Help me to always love You in return. Help me to give myself entirely to You. Help me always to pour out my life in love of God and neighbor! Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You!

Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, I consecrate myself to your maternal and Immaculate Heart, this Heart which is symbol of your life of love. You are the Mother of my Savior. You are also my Mother. You love me with a most special love as a member of Shepherds of Christ Associates, a movement created by your Son as a powerful instrument for the renewal of the Church and the world. In a return of love, I give myself entirely to your motherly love and protection. You followed Jesus perfectly. You are His first and perfect disciple. Teach me to imitate you in the putting on of Christ. Be my motherly intercessor so that, through your Immaculate Heart, I may be guided to an ever closer union with the pierced Heart of Jesus, Chief Shepherd of the flock.⁸

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Copyright © 1997 Shepherds of Christ Ministries
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First Printing: September, 1997