God made man to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, so as to be happy with Him forever in the next. This, the simplest of answers, is the reason we were created and the only means of finding true happiness and peace. All good men know this to be true. There is a peace which the world cannot give that is the result of living one’s life in accordance with this answer.
Peaceful good men are concerned, however, when they consider the current sad state of society. They see a state of things where men are not free to know, love, and serve God, and where men who attempt to do so are persecuted. Peaceful good men see conditions which are not conducive to practicing virtue, conditions where the very necessities of our bodily lives – food, clothing, shelter – are becoming increasingly hard to obtain. Family men are especially concerned when they consider the ever-rising cost of living while feeling the enormous burden of providing for and protecting their family.
All peaceful good men are rightly concerned about these things, but their innermost peace is not disturbed. It was not the world which gave them their peace, and thus the world cannot take it away. It is only those who seek their happiness in this world who can have their degree of false happiness stripped from them by this world. Poor worldlings see the very real possibility of their worldly comforts being taken away, and they can only live in constant fear and anxiety. They have no recourse and nothing in which to place their hopes. How different is the perspective of the peaceful good man! He continues to grow – with the help of grace – in his knowledge and love of God while constantly striving to serve Him more perfectly. Thus satisfying the purpose of his existence, he daily increases in happiness and peace, even as the world around him descends further into restlessness. The peaceful good man sees a serious test of his faith on the horizon, but he is prepared to place his trust in God. He is actually happy should the opportunity present itself for him to prove his love for God. In spite of all the madness around him, he calmly stays the course and marches forward to eternal happiness in the next life.
None of this means that peaceful good men are oblivious to societal evils, and they certainly do not ignore them. In fact, in a certain sense, it is peaceful good men who feel the weight of these evils even more than any poor worldling. It is they who are the most disturbed and the most pained to see these evils. Why? Simply because these evils offend the good God Whom they love. Love of God is the entire life of a peaceful good man. He seeks to know God better only so he can love God more. He seeks to serve God more perfectly only because he loves Him. He seeks his own personal everlasting happiness, it is true, but he knows that that happiness consists of loving God with all of his powers of loving without even the possibility of that love ever faltering. For the peaceful good man, there is nothing in this life or the next except love of God.
Now to love means to wish well for the beloved. If anyone loves, he will detest seeing his beloved offended and will do all in his power to prevent the offense. He is forgetful of self when considering the interests of his beloved. A peaceful good man who loves his God is no different. It is true that the evils in society offend and injure him personally, but he is quick to overlook that fact. His primary concern is with his beloved God. He views every societal evil primarily as an attack upon his God Whom he loves. These evils cut to his very heart because he is united to the Heart of his God. He has ceased to live for himself and lives only for his Beloved. He is tortured as he sees his Beloved suffering such terrible outrages. He resolves to do all in his power to prevent and remedy these outrages, and he begs his Beloved to show him what must be done.
And what must be done? First, the peaceful good man must renew his resolve to – with the help of grace – continue to fulfill his purpose of knowing, loving, and serving God in order to attain to everlasting happiness with Him in the next life. If the peaceful good man is taking any part in the societal evils so terribly offending his Beloved, his prayers and attempts at reparation are a mocking insult that cut deeper than the offenses of any poor senseless worldling. Should he ever find himself joining in the never-ending insults offered to his God, he must be quick to apologize and beg for forgiveness and a deeper love.
The peaceful good man realizes that the society in which he lives is composed of individuals, beginning primarily with himself. Thus he understands that he must ensure that order reigns in his own personal life by fulfilling his purpose of knowing, loving, and serving God before he can hope to make any larger impact on society. It must not be thought that the peaceful good man has to absolutely perfect his existence before moving on to impacting society at large, for who can perfectly know, love, and serve God in this life? If God is an infinite Being and infinitely lovable as we know Him to be, could it ever be said that any finite creature knows Him well-enough, loves Him well-enough, or serves Him well-enough? No, the peaceful good man must continue to grow and increase in this respect every day of his life. He must simply be sure that he is daily increasing in his knowledge, love, and service of God before hoping to have any positive impact whatsoever on society.
Perhaps the primary method of ensuring one is satisfying the purpose of his existence is the personal consecration. By this is meant the individual making a free offering of his entire being to his God. The peaceful good man acknowledges Christ as his true King Who has true kingly rights over him. He humbly acknowledges that he is a creature of Almighty God, and thus he belongs entirely to that God as His rightful property and possession. A simple creature is not free to decide the purpose of his existence but must satisfy the wishes of his Creator. A personal consecration offers to Almighty God what is rightfully His – our entire being with all of its faculties; all of our thoughts, words, and deeds; all of our affections; all of our bodily members; etc. Such an act is most pleasing to Our Lord and King as He has suffered so much to claim this victory over our souls. By a personal consecration, we give Him the victory that He has so long sought. We personally invite Him to reign over our hearts and to be our King by a free act of our will. We profess our allegiance to Him and place ourselves entirely at His service. We freely and humbly submit to His reign by a personal consecration. We offer to Him our entire life and every smallest action that constitutes that life, thus sanctifying even the most mundane and apparently meaningless tasks. This is how we become saints – is it any different than the “Little Way” of the “greatest saint of modern times?”
If an individual has made this personal consecration and is every day living it out to a more perfect extent, he can be sure that he is already impacting the society in which he lives. His goodness will further diffuse itself, however, as all goodness is wont to do, and he will work to see that others make and live out the same consecration. He will ensure that his own family, as a unit, makes and lives this consecration. His entirely family will become apostles of the consecration and win other families over to the same life. One by one, these families, these mini-societies, will have a profound impact on society at large. These fundamental building blocks of society will necessarily produce a well-ordered society to the point where the state itself can make the same consecration. This is the true reign of Christ the King. When society at large – the individuals comprising society, the families of a society, and even the government of a society – have all been consecrated to their King and have firmly resolved to live out the purpose for which they were created, then it can be said that Christ is truly King of that society. Then the tranquility of order that is peace would be everywhere found to fullest extent possible in this vale of tears. But notice that this consecration by the state would never even become a possibility except sufficient individuals and families first make and really live their own consecrations.
A practical plan to make such a dream become reality. Remember that nothing exists for the peaceful good man outside of love for God, so why not form a group grounded in a devotion to the love of God – the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? The two primary ends of this devotion are to return love for love to an infinitely loving and lovable God, and to make reparation and offer compensation to that same God for the offenses that have been committed against Him. The primary practice of this devotion is the consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Is this not precisely the plan outlined above? An official group register containing the names of those who have made the personal consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and have firmly committed to live out that consecration would be a great place to begin. Members of the group would have as their primary essential purpose the two great ends of returning love for love and offering reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Every good work performed would be consecrated to these two all-encompassing intentions, and members would do all good in the spirit of a personal consecration – offering every thought, word, and deed to the King of love, Christ the King. The group itself, as a miniature society of its own, would obviously be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Christ the King. Members of the group would see to it that their own families make and live out the same consecration. Members of the group would become apostles for the consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Christ the King, and they would preach the life of the consecration as far and as wide as God would permit the message to reach. Their own personal lives, and the collective lives of the group itself would be a wonderful example illustrating the peace and happiness that is the result of the life of the consecration. In this way, with the help of God’s grace, such a group could work to lead society to a place where it could ultimately acknowledge and enthrone Christ as its true King. This is the wish of every peaceful good man. Let us pray that it becomes a reality. Let us begin to consecrate our entire lives to the Sacred Heart of Jesus – the true King of Love.
A Personal Prayer of Consecration
O my God, Who art Thou, and Who am I? Thou art infinite goodness, beauty, and truth. In Thy infinite mercy Thou didst call me forth from nothingness into existence. Thou didst redeem me from the sin of my first parents, and Thou hast offered to me eternal salvation. Thou became man and assumed our frail human nature for love of me. Thou suffered the most cruel passion and most ignominious death out of love for me. Thou ascended into Heaven in order to give me hope that I too may someday be taken up to join Thee, yet Thou, in the excess of Thy love, remained with me here on earth in the Sacrament of Thy love. Thou wast infinitely merciful to me by receiving me into Thy Church and making me a member of Thy Mystical Body, an adopted son and an heir of Heaven. Thou hast been infinitely patient with me as I rejected my inheritance and offended Thee by my sins. Thou hast stood at the door of my heart and called me to repentance when I have offended Thee. Thou hast forgiven me time and time again, and Thou hast continually showered me with every blessing, both spiritual and temporal, even as I misused and rejected Thy gifts. Even to this day Thou dost not tire of my weakness and ingratitude, and Thou dost every day draw me closer to Thee. What manner of being am I, that the Lord of all creation shouldst go to such great lengths to please me and to win my affection?
Behold thyself, O my soul, and what dost thou see? First, a nothingness. How can thou consider thyself to be anything when thou wast created out of nothing by the infinite power of God? Thou clingest to thy fragile existence day by day only by the sustaining power of that same God. Thou art but dust and ashes, and unto ashes thou shalt return. And thou knowest not when thou shalt return to ashes! Truly thou art nothing, but dost thou understand and acknowledge this terrible truth? On the contrary, wonder of wonders, thou makest thyself out to be something! Thou pretendest that thou posesseth thy own life and can lay it down and take it up again as thou dost please. Ungrateful for the great gift of existence which thou hast received, thou hast dared to appropriate it to thy miserable self. What a crime, what a terrible theft, to rob God of His rightful honor. But thou dost go even farther than this. Thou, O wicked soul, dost openly offend thy God. Thou dost not only abuse the gifts which He has so graciously bestowed upon Thee, but thou dost use those same gifts to directly attack and offend Him. He was merciful enough to adopt thee as His own son and give thee eternal happiness for thy inheritance when thou wast only a newborn child, and thou didst immediately begin to insult Him and mock Him by thy sins as soon as thou didst realize what He had done for Thee. He became man out of love for Thee in order to prove His love for Thee, and He suffered the worst possible torments in order to atone for thy sins and to win thy affection. And yet the more He did for thee, the more thou didst mock and reject Him by thy sins. O my soul! we must not go on listing thy hideous crimes. Let it suffice to say that thou art truly miserable and wretched and poor and blind and naked. Thou art not a saint, thou art a sinner. Thou art not a king, thou art a servant – a wicked and unprofitable servant. Thou art not worthy to be called His son. Thou deservest nothing but the deepest fires of hell, and for all eternity. Thou shouldst despair of thyself, and thou must abandon all hope of ever obtaining heaven by thy own non-existent merits.
Instead, thou must turn thyself back to Almighty God. Thou must once again consider Who He is. Thou must look with humility and confidence upon His infinitely meritorious sacrifice. Thou must beg Him to apply those merits to thy own poor soul. Thou must beg Him to wash thee in His most Precious Blood, to cleanse thee, and to make thee a pure and acceptable sacrifice to the Father. Thou must place all of thy hope in His infinite merits and abandon thyself to Him. Thou must begin this very day to honor Him as thy King.
Thou must pray thus: O my Jesus, I honor Thee as my King, and I invite Thee to exercise Thy Kingly rights as Thou dost rule over me. I am Thy creature, I belong to Thee. I am Thy property and Thy possession. I exist for the sole purpose of serving Thee and Thee alone. I freely surrender to Thee my existence as if it belonged to myself. I humbly acknowledge that my life is not my own but was given to me by Thee. I offer and consecrate to Thee this very day my entire being.
I humbly beg of Thee and invite Thee to rule over and be the King of my intellect – may I think only those things which are pleasing to Thee. May all of my thoughts be directed by Thee, my King, and may I never think anything which is displeasing to Thee. I humbly submit my intellect to all of the truths which Thou hast revealed to me, and I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to perfectly conform my intellect to Thee.
I humbly beg of Thee and invite Thee to rule over and be the King of my will – may I will only those things which are in perfect accordance with Thy most holy Will. May my will be completely annihilated to the point that it is indistinguishable from Thine. Grant, O my King, that I may never will anything which is not for Thy greater honor and glory. May I always obey perfectly Thy holy laws and precepts.
I humbly beg of Thee and invite Thee to rule over and be the King of my affections – may I love only those things which Thou dost love. May I “spurn natural desires and love God above all things.” Grant that I may never have any affection whatsoever for anything that is repulsive to Thee. I beg of Thee to guide and order all of my affections. Let whatever I love be loved out of love for Thee and with Thee and through Thee. Let all that I love first be grounded in my love for Thee, O King of love.
I humbly beg of Thee and invite Thee to rule over and be King of my body and its members. May they serve only for Thy greater honor and glory and my own interior sanctification. May they exist only to serve Thee. Never allow me to perform the slightest action which is displeasing to Thee. I offer to Thee, O my rightful King, every single action I perform; even, especially, the smallest of them all. Was this not what pleased Thee so much in the “Little Way” of Thy beloved Saint Therese?
Behold, O my good King Jesus, it is but common courtesy that I should give myself entirely to Thee. Hast Thou not done the same for me? Hast Thou not given Thyself entirely to me in the most holy Sacrament of Thy love? Truly Thou art there present with Thy Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity out of love for me. Can I not offer to Thee my own body, blood, soul, and humanity in return? Thou hast first given Thyself entirely to me; I now wish to give myself entirely to Thee in return. It is true that Thou hast given to me the Divine Life of the most Blessed Trinity, and I have nothing of any value to offer to Thee. But whatever I do have is Thine, O my King. If Thou hast given to me all that Thou hast, let it at least be said that I have given to Thee all that I have – even if it is a very little nothing.
I wish to give Thee the victory which Thou hast so long sought, O my King. Behold how Thou hast suffered and battled for the kingdom of my heart – a kingdom which is rightfully Thine but has been devastated by my rebellious passions. I humbly submit to Thy conquests, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, and I give to Thee the kingdom of my heart. It is rightfully Thine, I only return it to Thee, O my King.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I offer and consecrate to Thee this very day my entire being. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I give myself to Thee through Mary, the Immaculate Heart of Thy dear mother. I am all Thine. Grant only that I may love Thee always, and then do with me what Thou will. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee. Father, into Thy Hands I commend my spirit. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come.
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