With a solemn celebration, which was presided over by the Archbishop of Quito and Primate of Ecuador, Monsignor Alfredo José Espinoza Mateus, sdb, on the afternoon of this Monday, March 25, the Catholic Church that pilgrims in Ecuador renewed its Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus . The celebration took place on the occasion of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the historic consecration, an event for which Pope Francis chose Ecuador as the venue for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress IEC2024.
The celebration, which took place in the Basilica of the National Vow, was concelebrated by the auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Quito and around 150 priests, and had the participation of hundreds of faithful, religious, pastoral agents who came to give thanks to God and be part of this historic event.
Renewal to create fraternity
In his homily, Bishop Espinoza Mateus, alluded to the need to live universal brotherhood, in the context of the theme of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress: “Fraternity to heal the world.”
He highlighted that, with the renewal of the consecration, Ecuador places “its heart in the Heart of Jesus to love, to serve, to open its arms, to look at reality and to create fraternity.”
Likewise, he called to “listen to the reality of our brothers, our neighbors, the helpless who cry out for justice” and emphasized that the “path to freedom begins by listening to our brother and God in reality.”
Monsignor Alfredo Espinoza stressed that the renewal of the Consecration “is to go against the sin of indifference that can nest in our hearts” and recalled the words of Pope Francis who questions that “the culture of indifference dominates our lives, our cities, our Way of living”.
“Everything is yours, save Ecuador”
In the final part of his homily, Monsignor Alfredo José insisted that given the situation of violence that the country is experiencing, it is time to renew our Consecration, to say once and for all: “Everything is yours, save Ecuador!”
150 years of a historic consecration
The history of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus began in the 16th century, and it did not take long to reach Ecuador, through the Jesuit priests. From there, he stayed in our country, a blessed nation full of graces and gifts; “details from the Lord,” some would call it.
Ecuador was the first country to consecrate itself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the first country in which a National Eucharistic Congress was held. Now, almost 140 years later, Ecuador will host the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, the most important meeting of the Catholic Church.
According to Pope Francis, this great ecclesial meeting “will reveal the fruitfulness of the Eucharist for evangelization and the renewal of faith on the Latin American continent.”
Fraternity to heal the world
The International Eucharistic Congress that will be held from September 8 to 15, 2024 has as its theme “Fraternity to heal the world” and will be illuminated by the biblical phrase “You are all brothers” (Mt 23:8).
The call to create and live fraternity responds to the urgency that today’s society has to heal the wounds suffered by several countries in Latin America and the world, as a result of poverty, injustice, inequality and socio-political conflicts.
As highlighted in the Base Document prepared for the International Eucharistic Congress, “Poverty and inequality in Latin America are a sore that deepens instead of being alleviated. The pandemic and its consequences, the aggravated global context in political, economic and military terms, as well as ideological polarization, seem to close the doors to
development efforts and desires for liberation.”
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