What is the meaning of consecration?

Consecration (nowadays also called dedication or entrustment) is

a well-known term in the history of spirituality. It has biblical
roots, and became the quest of many saints and spirituals
through the centuries. Martyrs, virgins, monks are so-called
consecrated persons. Consecration can be both personal and
communitarian. It was promoted as oblation in Spain (fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries) and became the object of special
attention in France in the seventeenth century. Famous names
attached to the Consecration movement are St. Louis Grignion de
Montfort, St. John Eudes, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. During
the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries Popes Leo XIII and
Pius XI lent their voices to the movement. So did the Legion of
Mary, St. Maximilian Kolbe, and his Militia of the Immaculate, and
the various Fatima groupings. During this century entire nations
were consecrated to Mary (Portugal, Italy, Poland...) and, based on
the message of Fatima, the consecration of the whole world was
requested. This consecration was made by John Paul II on March
24, 1984, in union with the bishops of the world, and considered
by Lucia as both sufficient and efficacious. On October 8, after the
celebration of the mass, bishops united with the Holy Father in
an "Act of Entrustment" to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
But what is the meaning of consecration (dedication or
entrustment)?
1. God consecrates
In a strict and primary sense, there is room only for one type of
consecration, the one made by God himself. Only God can
appropriate a human being and make him/her sacred. God
communicates his holiness to us; he gives us participation in his
holiness. He is our creator and wants us to be in his image. This
transformation into his likeness is the foremost meaning of
consecration.
2. Consecration is a response

Our consecration is therefore essentially a response to his call. In

acquiescing, we bind ourselves to a consecration that comes from
God. We consecrate ourselves to belong to the Lord in a new
way. In fact this new way is the only way by which we truly
become who we are. The foremost example of God-human
consecration is Jesus Christ himself. He is the "Anointed,"
meaning he totally belongs to God. When, by a free act of his
person (intelligence, will, affection), he accepts the mission for
the salvation of the world (Jn 17, 19; 30) he consecrates himself.
This is what we call his subjective consecration in response to the
objective consecration of his being which occurred in his
humanity at the moment of the Incarnation.
3. Consecration in Christ through baptism
Christ imparts to his disciples and followers a very special
belonging to God. He gives us his own life by making us
participants in his own consecration. This happens in baptism.
Baptism is our first and most important consecration. Baptism is
our objective consecration. With Christ and through him we are
destined and commissioned to the glory of God and the salvation
of the world. There is a radical meaning to this mission: through
baptism we do not belong to ourselves anymore but to Christ who
imparts his life to us.
4. A consequence of baptism
What we commonly regard as consecration--our subjective
consecration through promises, renewal of baptismal promises,
confirmation, and vows--is consecration by voluntary adherence
to what baptism has made of us. We promise to live as sons and
daughters of God, and thus fulfill subjectively our objective
consecration. All consecrations which follow baptism are rooted
in this primary act of our Christian vocation.
5. Consecration to Mary

Can we consecrate ourselves to Mary? Mary is not the Creator,

she is not the Redeemer. She is the opposite of a Goddess; she
never substituted herself for God. But it was God's will that Mary
had something to do with our Christian life, with our
sanctification. It is a role assigned to her by God. In perfect
union with her Son and subordinate to him, the Vatican II Council
calls her "our mother in the order of grace" (LG 61). Let us not
forget that Mary is the prototype of perfect consecration at the
beginning of the New Testament. She was chosen to help us in
our consecration through her intercession and by her maternal
care, which disposes us to receive the gift of God we receive in
baptism. She is the perfect example of the Church, and the
model of all faithful. In her extreme spiritual sensitivity to the
Holy Spirit's inspiration she is God's creaturely masterpiece.
All consecrations to Mary have this Spirit-oriented (meaning
Christocentric and theocentric) meaning. Consecration to Mary is
consecration to the "perfect means" (Montfort) which Jesus chose
to unite himself with us and vice versa. Consecration to Mary
heightens the depth and truth of our commitment to Christ.
Consecration to Mary must explicitly state that our ultimate goal
and end is God (Holy Spirit; Christ our Lord). Consecrations to
Mary where one pledges to perform all actions "through Mary, in
Mary, and for Mary" are in fact a pledge to perform them more
perfectly through Jesus Christ, with him, in, and for him.
Dedication to the Heart of Mary must therefore maintain the vital
unity between the Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus. We must
confide ourselves to the Heart of Mary in view of our consecration
to God. We offer ourselves to this divine consecration through
Mary, for she points the way to the heart of Jesus.

The Practicality of True Consecration

(Overcomer Wu)
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, which is your reasonable service. --Romans 12:1

We have seen last time that the only acceptable ground of

consecration is the ground of resurrection, and that God will reject
any consecration of our old and natural man, however sincere and
well-intended, to Him. To consecrate our natural man without
passing through the death and resurrection of Christ is
tantamount to Cain offering to God the produce of the ground,
which was rejected by God. To be truly consecrated to Jesus Christ
is the most difficult commitment for Christians to make, partly
due to the fact that they are still unwilling to give up their self-life
in full surrender to Christ and His will. Instead, many are

consecrated to their profession, their families, to serving others,

or even charity; yet they would turn a deaf ear to the subject of
being fully consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly, to live
a consecrated life for Christ does not preclude our attending to
some of these good deeds, such as taking care of our family and
the needy ones; however, the question is, does the Lord Jesus
Christ have the preeminent position in your life? Is He at the very
top of your priority or is He lower in priority than yourself, your
family and friends?

Many Christians ignore the fact that to live a fully consecrated life
for Christ is the normal Christian life; rather they consider it to be
a life merely for the few faithful and the fanatics for Christ. Our
Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christians and even some
Christian workers than by the world. They treat God as if He is a
machine designed only to bless us, and Jesus as a miracle worker
to bring abundance to our lives. Yes, the Lord Jesus did say that
He came to bring us an abundant life (Jn 10:10); however, He is
not referring to a materially abundant life (else all of the Lord's
disciples would be deliriously wealthy, but they were not), but an
abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 1:11).

The goal of consecration is not that we will work for God, but that
He will be free to do His work in and through us. God calls us to
His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He
expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on
His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son for His
glory.

Consecration is most assuredly not for selfish gain. If it sinks into

that, it ceases to be consecration, because as we have seen: true
consecration only issues out of our dying to our self and living in
newness of life in Christ. Being consecrated, we will cease to live

our lives for our own happiness and pleasure. Rather our true aim
in life, if the love of Christ constrains us, will be not I, but Christ
(Gal 2:20). Not for "me" at all, but all "for Christ"; not to secure
my safety, but to secure His glory; not for my comfort, but for His
joy; not for the fulfillment of my dreams, but for the fulfillment of
His grand purpose!
If we truly and fully surrender ourselves into His hands, He will
search and probe fully and firmly, though tenderly. Painfully as it
may be at times, but only that He may accomplish the very thing
we want to cleanse our vessel and fill us with the real treasure
of Himself, so that we may walk in real newness of life and live life
abundantly. Yet if we refuse to give ourselves unreservedly into
His hands, it is useless to be talking about being consecrated to
Him. The heart that is not entrusted to Him for cleansing and
transforming will not be undertaken by Him to be made His
abode. The life that fears to come to the light lest any deed
should be reproved, can never know the blessedness of fellowship
and the privileges of walking in the light with the Lord, even as He
is in the Light (1 Jn 1:7).
As he walks in the light, a consecrated person will see with
spiritual insight that God sovereignly controls his circumstances.
Oftentimes, we take our circumstances for granted, saying God is
in control, but not completely believing it. We act as if the things
that happen were really controlled by people. To live a
consecrated life in every circumstance means that we have only
one loyalty, or object of our faiththe Lord Jesus Christ. God may
cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring
the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing
that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was
trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated
in our life. This is where the test of our consecration comes. If we
learn to worship God accept His will even during the difficult
circumstances, we will enable Him to work out His good pleasure
in and through us.
Consecration may be the act of a moment, but it is the work of a
lifetime. It must be complete to be real, and yet, if real, it is
always incomplete; a point of rest, and yet a perpetual

progression. We give our lives over to God definitely and

completely. But then begins the practical development of
consecration. Here He leads on gradually, according as each of
His children is able to endure. I do not suppose anyone sees all
that it involves at the outset. Little by little the Master shows how
much more our lives may be made to conform to His eternal
purpose. It will seem as if there is always more and more to be
done by the very fact that He is constantly showing us something
more to be dealt with or surrendered in our lives in order to to
prove that we are truly His and His alone. As we wholly give Him
our lives no matter how poor, puny, and useless they may be
then He can make our wilderness like Eden, and our desert like
the garden of the Lord. When we yield to the Lord to thus work on
us, the day will come when our Lord may find His good pleasure in
us: "My beloved is gone down into His garden, to the beds of
spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies (Song 6:2).
Missionary Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot
keep to gain what he cannot lose."
What it means to be consecrated?

Answer:In the Bible the word consecrationmeans the separation

of oneself from things that are unclean, especially anything that
would contaminate ones relationship with a perfect God.
Consecration also carries the connotation of sanctification,
holiness, or purity.
The importance of being consecrated or pure in our relationship
with God is emphasized in an incident in the book of Joshua. After
forty years in the wilderness, the children of Israel were about to
cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. They were
then given a command and a promise: Joshua told the people,
Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing
things among you (Joshua 3:5).
The people of God were commanded to bathe and change their

clothes; the married couples were to devote themselves wholly to

the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:1-6). The significance of this command
was that in ancient times water was considered a luxury and
wasnt used often for personal hygiene. The bathing and changing
clothes symbolized making a new beginning with the Lord. The
picture here is that sin is defilement (Psalm 51:2,7), and we have
to be cleansed before we can truly follow God.
Upon consecrating themselves, the children of Israel were assured
of God's promises. The Lord promised that He would do amazing
things among them (Joshua 3:5). Just as He opened the Red Sea
to deliver them from their Egyptian bondage, He would open the
Jordan River and take them into the Promised Land. In fact, this
was just the beginning of the miracles God would perform for
them in the conquest of the Promised Land. Its no wonder the
psalmist declares, Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so
great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you
display your power among the peoples (Psalm 77:13-14).
Another good example of consecrating oneself is that of David
upon confessing his sin of adultery. He bathed and changed
clothes before he worshiped the Lord (2 Samuel 12:20). This same
imagery is also used in the New Testament (Colossians 3:514;Ephesians 4:26-27).
The Bible tells believers to be a holy people, separate from the
world: Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the
Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you (2
Corinthians 6:17). Being consecrated is a critical component in
our relationship to God and to those in the world. Paul tells us,
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer
your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Godthis is
your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is
his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

In other words, as true believers in Christ, the act of consecration

involves our lives being a living sacrifice to Him; we are totally
separated from the defilement of the world. Each day, we are to
live out our lives as a holy and royal priesthood to the glory of
God, for we are now Gods people (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/Bibleconsecration.html#ixzz2vyoGnCbH