Pontiff Urges Mexico to Be Open to God's Love
On Occasion of Renewed Consecration to the Sacred Heart

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 23, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Be open to the mystery of God's love, Benedict XVI said in a message to Mexican Catholics on the renewal of the country's consecration to the Sacred Heart.

The initiative of the Mexican bishops' conference was held in conjunction with today's arrival of the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

A message sent in Benedict XVI's name by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano encouraged Mexican Catholics "to open their lives to the mystery of God's love, so that in all hearts a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace, will be established."

In the message, the Holy Father invites them to nourish themselves with the "Eucharistic bread" and to be "profoundly united to Christ, really present in the Most Holy Sacrament," encouraging them "to collaborate in building a society ever more permeated by authentic evangelical values."

Mexico's first consecration to the Sacred Heart took place in Mexico City on Oct. 11, 1924, at the country's first national Eucharistic congress.

The second consecration was held at the national monument to Christ the King, "El Cubilete," in Guanajuato, during a concelebrated Mass of the bishops of Mexico, presided over by Bishop José Martيn Rلbago of Leon, president of the bishops' conference.