In the first part of our journey, I explained the message of the Sacred Heart Apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary. In this fifth step, we move into a new section that explains what consecration is.

1Jesus, the First Consecrated

The model and foundation of all consecration is Jesus Himself. As the Word, the eternal Son of the Father, He does not need to consecrate Himself to the Father; He is wholly to the Father, equal to the Father, in the Spirit. “All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine” (John 17:10).

But by virtue of His incarnation, of His humanity, Jesus consecrates Himself. The people of Israel are a people set apart by the Lord, consecrated to the Lord. Their vocation is to continually sanctify themselves, precisely to manifest this consecration to God. Jesus enters into this consecration. At His baptism in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, consecrates Him with His anointing, and the voice of the Father is heard: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). This anointing of consecration occurs at the moment when Jesus is about to enter the public and missionary phase of His earthly life.

In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus was given the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened it and found the passage where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” After closing the book, He said to those present in the synagogue who were fixed on Him: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:17-21).

Jesus’ consecration to His Father is expressed most profoundly in the words He speaks in His great High Priestly Prayer: “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (John 17:19). Therefore, Jesus consecrates Himself totally to the Father so that we may be consecrated in turn in the truth, through baptism.

2. The Consecration of Baptism

Jesus consecrates Himself first. He is the Head, so that His entire Body, the Church, may be consecrated to the Glory of the Father, in the power of the Spirit. Through baptism, we are “inserted” into the very consecration of Christ. Through baptism, we become children of God, “not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (cf. John 1:12-13). We become sons of the Father, brothers of Jesus, and temples of the Holy Spirit. This baptismal consecration is a consecration of our whole being to God. It is definitive, for eternity. It is the foundation of all other consecrations one might wish to live.

This consecration is signified by the anointing the priest performs with the sacred chrism on the forehead of the newly baptized, after pronouncing these words which explain its meaning: “God Himself consecrates you with the chrism of salvation, so that, inserted into Christ, priest, king, and prophet, you may always be members of His Body for eternal life.” In his catechesis on baptism of 9 May 2018, Pope Francis comments: “Brothers and sisters, the Christian vocation is found entirely there: living united to Christ in the holy Church, participating in the same consecration to fulfil the same mission in this world, bearing fruit that lasts forever. Animated by the one Spirit, indeed, the whole people of God participate in the functions of Jesus Christ, ‘Priest, King, and Prophet,’ and carries the responsibilities of mission and service that follow (cf. CCC, nn. 783-786). What does it mean to participate in Christ’s royal and prophetic priesthood? It means making oneself an offering pleasing to God (cf. Rom 12:1), bearing witness to Him through a life of faith and charity (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 12), placing it at the service of others, following the example of the Lord Jesus (cf. Mt 20:25-28; Jn 13:13-17).”

In the next step, we will explore the meaning of consecration to the Heart of Jesus in light of what we have just seen: through baptism, we are consecrated, that is, we enter into the consecration Jesus made of Himself to the Father.