Consecration of "the World" this Weekend

This Sunday our Holy Father Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Of course, there are no plans to mention Russia specifically, and the bishops of the world have not been asked to participate. It looks as if our current pontiff will be continuing in the trajectory set by previous pontiffs of performing generic world consecrations that do not fulfill Our Lady's request at Fatima.

This is a profoundly disappointing development, especially since with Francis' current popularity, such a consecration of Russia specifically, and in union with the bishops, would most likely be well received by the faithful and the hierarchy, the former of whom have expressed on more than one occasion their willingness to participate in a consecration of Russia when and if the Holy Father should wish to do it.

And what is the point of a consecration of "the world"? To consecrate something means to set it apart, dedicated to the service of God. Now, "the world" is really everything. How can you set apart everything? What is it being set apart from? Perhaps I am being a little simplistic here, and I will willingly receive correction on this point, but to consecrate the whole world seems like playing a game where everybody wins. And if everybody wins, then nobody does; if everything is consecrated, is anything consecrated? And if the entire planet is to be consecrated, why the necessity of repeating this consecration again and again over the past sixty years? Each subsequent consecration suggests and imperfection in the previous one; unless we take the position that consecrations periodically need to be renewed.

Who knows. The consistent failure of the last several popes to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart is one of the most disappointing aspects of modern Catholicism, and it does not look like it is going to happen anytime soon, although our Lady did state that it would finally happen, but "late." I am not one of those people who attributes every single ill in the world and the Church to the failure of the popes to consecrate Russia, but the way things are going, it is very difficult to not see a correlation between the darkness the Church suffers through and the ongoing failure to make the consecration.

On a positive note, I do know through several reliable sources that Fr. Gruner is in the Vatican this week, and that allegedly he will be meeting with Pope Francis prior to the consecration. It is known that Pope Francis, as Cardinal Bergoglio, had written to Fr. Gruner in the past. I do not know the nature of their meeting this week, but I pray it will be fruitful.

These are very strange times, my friends.