We are all sinners in need of mercy

Fourth Sunday of Lent (C)

On Friday last, 25 March, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation. This feast is one of profound significance. I recall the time when I visited the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. There, contemplating what occurred when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that God had chosen her to be the one to conceive and give birth to the Son of God, I was overwhelmed by the reality of what had taken place.

There, when Mary consented to what was asked of her, the Son of God was conceived in her womb by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. This was the moment of the incarnation, the moment when God became man. This was the moment when the plan of God for the redemption of humanity actually came into being.

Surely, there has been no greater moment in human history!

This year it was on this great feast that the Holy Father chose to carry out an Act of Consecration of the whole of humanity, but especially Russia and the Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Pope did so asking that all the bishops of the world would be in communion with him in this solemn moment.

This Act of Consecration was in response firstly to a request of the bishops of the Ukraine. It was directly linked to the request of Our Lady to the children at Fatima in 1917. The children reported that on 13 July, 1917, Our Lady called for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, adding, “If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace”.

The motivation for this Act of Consecration to take place now is the tragic war in Ukraine. The whole world has watched with horror at the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation, at the wilful destruction of cities and the terrorising of the populations by the invading army.

Here in this cathedral at the 7.30am Mass the Act of Consecration was carried out before a statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

The lengthy prayer began with a confession of the failure of humanity to take the necessary steps to ensure that lasting peace could be established. The prayer said, “We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of millions who fell in the two world wars”. It added, “We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to supress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons”.

These words remind us of the sinful condition of humanity. Such sinfulness leads to violence and war. Any outbreak of war reflects the selfishness and hardness of heart not only of leaders but of nations, of peoples. We cannot stand in judgement on the actions of others without being aware of our own complicity. We are all sinners.  

The Act of Consecration invoked the maternal love of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We prayed, “Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world”. Recognising that both Russia and Ukraine have deep Christian roots and a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, the prayer added, “The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty”. At this time there are heartfelt prayers being offered to the Virgin Mary from many faithful souls in Russia and the Ukraine.

The actual words of consecration declared, “Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all of humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine”.

This was a powerful moment. It was a moment in which the Pope together with the bishops of the world called down the grace and mercy of God upon Russia and Ukraine in particular, but indeed upon the whole of humanity through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this act we recognise that we all are in desperate need of God. Humanity cannot survive without Him. We cannot overcome the deep veins of sin that lie in the heart of humanity without the saving action of God.  

Humanity was redeemed once and for all by the saving death of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, but the act of redemption needs to be engaged with at every point of human history and especially in moments when evil, war, destruction and suffering rise up.

The well-known parable of the Lord, commonly called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which we read this morning, captures this reality so well. It speaks not only of the wilfulness of the younger son in demanding his rights and pursuing a life of debauchery, but also of the older son who was self-righteous and unforgiving. However, it is a parable not about human sin, but about the great mercy of God towards sinful humanity. The heart of God is a heart of constant and unconditional love. It is a heart that longs to open the floodgates of his mercy. Like the prodigal son, humanity has to turn back to God and ask for forgiveness.

This is what the Lord declares so poignantly in this parable. We can listen once again to the story depicted by the Lord and, in the face of the current situation of humanity, especially in what has been manifest in Ukraine, know that it speaks to the reality of the human condition, and to each one of us.

Let us then continue to join our prayers with those of the Holy Father and pray, that through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, peace will be restored in the Ukraine. Let us also recognise that each of us stand in need of the mercy of God. Each of us do carry what was evident both in the younger and the older son. We are all sinners in need of mercy.

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Sunday, 27 March 2022