Diocese of Metuchen to be consecrated to Jesus through Mary Dec. 12

METUCHEN, N.J. – Following a yearlong period of spiritual awakening, the Diocese of Metuchen will be consecrated to Jesus through Mary, under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on her feast day.

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, the Holy Father’s representative to the country, will celebrate the Mass which is set to take place Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, 32 Elm Ave., Metuchen, N.J.

During the Mass, Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen will formally consecrate the Diocese to Jesus through Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is known as the Patroness of the Americas and the Star of the New Evangelization.

Due to limited seating at the Cathedral, attendance is by ticket only. To allow for greater participation, the Diocese of Metuchen will air a live satellite broadcast of the Mass at www.lightingheartsonfire.org. Following the Mass, a link to the recording will be posted on the same site for on-demand viewing. Over 800 people from the four counties of the Diocese of Metuchen – Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren – are expected to attend. 

On that same day, elementary schools in the Diocese of Metuchen are expected to participate in a taped prayer service for children, filmed with Bishop Checchio in anticipation of the consecration, and each Catholic high school in the Diocese will hold its own prayer service.

Bishop Checchio, who in March 2017 penned a pastoral letter titled “Lighting a fire in the heart of our world,” signaled the need for a spiritual renewal in the Diocese. “The consecration is a time for us to personally and communally renew our Catholic faith and a time for us to recommit ourselves to our Baptismal promises to grow closer to Jesus, grow in holiness and receive the graces needed to carry on His work ‘lighting a fire in the heart of our world,’” he said.

For the past year, individuals, schools and parishes in the Diocese have been steadfastly preparing for the consecration. In October, nearly 80 pilgrims attended a diocesan pilgrimage to Mexico with Bishop Checchio, where they visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. In September, over 700 pilgrims journeyed through the streets and roads in the New Jersey western county of Hunterdon, where they walked 9 miles as part of the yearlong intentional preparation leading to the Dec. 12 consecration.

In Catholic schools and religious education programs around the Diocese, the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the consecration and the proclamation of the Gospel have been central themes in the curriculum.

Led by pastors and parish ambassadors – individuals who have served as delegates to the Diocese to help usher in the Year of Spiritual Awakening in their respective parishes – many parishes in the Diocese have offered various opportunities for personal spiritual awakening, including: movie nights on the meaning and message of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s apparitions, bible studies and book studies, parish-wide prayer campaigns, “Awakening Nights” with preaching and testimony centered on the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego, a play in Spanish with the dramatization of the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and parish prayer kits that included a traveling image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which parishioners were invited to take home and pray with as a family.

As the faithful of the Diocese prepare for the culmination of the yearlong period of spiritual awakening, they are also preparing for a new beginning, one of renewal and recommitment, and growing in friendship with Jesus. 

“Let us make more room in our hearts for the Blessed Mother to bring her Son more fully into our lives,” said Bishop Checchio. “Our Year of Spiritual Awakening is coming to a close, and has hopefully prepared us like St. Juan Diego, to be spiritually ready to hear our Lady and what she asks of us and wants to provide for us.”

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