Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a rescue for sinners.
The salvation for all of us is the Immaculate Heart of Mary. However, this path raises many questions, because Mary, like all of us, is a creation and a Human been, not God. We must not forget about it, let alone blur the impassable border between the Creator and creation.
The heart of Mary is described as Immaculate, because we can look at the immaculateness of the Heart of Mary in two aspects: preservation from original sin and giving fullness of grace and extraordinary holiness. The first of them finds its biblical justification in the announcement of the total hostility between Satan and the Woman whose offspring will destroy the head of the serpent.
On the other hand, we see the second aspect in the Annunciation scene, where the Angel of the Lord greets the Virgin of Nazareth with her new name: full of grace, that is, full of God's gracious gaze, full of his transforming love, which results in extraordinary holiness. It is from her that great love for God flows, which is symbolized by the Immaculate Heart. She is totally devoted to God. Mary also had a loving heart towards her neighbor. As we know, immediately after the Annunciation she went to a relative - Saint Elizabeth, expecting a child in her elderly age, to accompany her cousin in these moments important to her and help her in everyday activities.
History of the Cult to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
We have encountered the first traces of the devotion to the Heart of Mary since the 12th century. This devotion is recalled by many Saints: Saint Anselm, his disciple Eadmer, Saint Bernard, Saint Hermann Joseph, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Albert the Great, Blessed Jacob of Yoragine, Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn, St. Gertrude the Great, Saint Brigid of Sweden and others. However, on a large scale, the cult to the Heart of Mary was only developed by Saint John Eudes (1601-1680). The cult that he spread was called the Sacred Heart of Mary or the Sweetest Heart of Mary. As we know, he associated it with the worship of the Heart of Jesus. From then on, images of the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary are common. Saint John Eudes was the first to write a book on the cult to the Heart of Mary. He completed it before his death in 1680. It was published in print in 1681. However, the most contributed to the spread of devotion to the Heart of Mary is Fr. Charles-Éléonore Dufriche-Desgenettes, pastor of the church of Our Lady of Victories in Paris. In 1836 he founded the Archonfraternity of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary, as an aim to convert sinners through the Heart of Mary.
In the revelation of the "Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate Virgin", which Saint Catherine Laboure received in 1830, there are two Hearts: Jesus’ and Mary’s.
In the nineteenth century the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was largely spread - to emphasize her privilege of the immaculate conception and all the effects that this privilege had on Mary. The beginning of this service was given by the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary by Pope Pius IX in 1854, as well as the apparition of Our Lady in Lourdes (1858). However, the most important were the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima in 1917.
And yet it is God who wants to establish the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This argument is pointed out by Sister Lucia, giving reasons justifying this particular devotion. When she was asked why such a devotion, she answered briefly and unequivocally: "Because God wants it that way.
We find it already in the first words of the Angel who appeared to the children: "The heart of Jesus and Mary listen carefully to your prayers" or: "The heart of Jesus and Mary want to show through the world a lot of mercy. Keep offering to the Greatest prayers and mortifications. " How beautiful and eloquent in this context are the words of the suffering Hyacinth, who in the last months of her life, knowing that she was leaving this world, turned to Lucia with such an appeal.
"I will go to heaven soon. You will stay here to tell people that God wants to introduce the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the world. When the time comes to talk about it, don't hide. Tell all people that God gives us favors through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that people must pray for them through this Heart, that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be glorified next to Him. Let’s ask the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, because God has entrusted this world’s peace to this Heart. Oh, if I could put a fire in all people's hearts that burns deep inside my heart and which makes me love the heart of Jesus and the heart of Mary so much! "
On October 13, 1942, Pope Pius XII via radio announced to the whole world that he dedicated the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He also recommended that individual countries do so within their scope. Portugal was the first to do so with the participation of the president of the state.
Poland was then under Nazi occupation. The Primate of Poland, Cardinal August Hlond in the presence of the entire Polish Episcopate and about a million pilgrims, did so on September 8, 1946 in Jasna Góra in front of the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa. Pope Pius XII introduced the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on May 4, 1944. Post-conciliar liturgical reform moved them to Saturday after the celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Road through the heart of Mary
It is God's will that the Immaculate Heart of Mary be glorified next to the Heart of Jesus. It is impossible to imagine a different path towards God, since He chooses such a path to become Man through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. God Himself shows us this path, and therefore, although rationality gives us many doubts and questions, we cannot be fooled to dictate to God our human solutions. How emphatically expressed it cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in a commentary to the third part of the Fatima secret. "To save souls from hell, to the surprise of Anglo-Saxon and German cultural circles, the cult of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is recommended."
The unity of the hearts of Jesus and Mary
The name of the devotion pointing to Mary is one aspect, the other is its proper content, and it indicates Jesus, who is the only goal, we are going to Him through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Thus, the name of the devotion is directly related to Mary, but its essence is unambiguous: Jesus, to whom we are going through sacramental confession, rosary, meditation and receiving Holy Communion. Therefore, it is impossible not to notice in the Fatima message the very eloquent and profound unity of the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary.
God is humble
The union of the hearts of Jesus and Mary is a model given to us by God, but the question remains where our heart is. We may consider the truth about the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but this is not about theological speculation, but about our hearts being as close as possible to Jesus and Mary. God himself indicates this to us, invites us to do so and, with the voice of a small child, motivates us to take the path shown to us.
In July 1917 Mary announced that she would come again to demand the dedication of Russia to the Immaculate Heart and to received Holy Communion on the first Saturdays; Also these found its fulfillment a few years later. On December 10, 1925, the Blessed Virgin appeared in Pontevedra to Sister Lucia, and the Child appeared on the side in brightness. The Blessed Virgin put her hand on Sister Lucia’s shoulder and in her other hand she held the heart surrounded by the thorns. The Child said: "Have compassion with the Heart of Your Blessed Mother, surrounded by thorns, with which the ungrateful people are still hurting them again, and there is no one who would draw these thorns through the act of remuneration"
God - as the Child Jesus - solicits, asks, encourages the devotion to His Mother's Heart. The path of our sanctification is to lead through the heart of Mary, to be an expression of our love. So, it is not surprising that this form of prayer harmonizes with the content of the vision. Jesus appears not as Lord and King of the Universe, but as a Child who asks and begs for love for his Mother. Therefore, not only respect for God's authority and omnipotence is to be an argument as to the choice of the path, but sincere and voluntary love. Our response should not come from coercion or calculation but be as natural as the answer to the request of a defenseless child who humbly asks for love for his mother.
How to worship Mary's Heart
The heart of Mary, which is a symbol of great love for us, tells us to pray first of all to her, that is, to resort to Mary's intercession. In addition to prayer, worshiping the Heart of Mary, we must follow her in our lives. To honor the Heart of Mary is to imitate the Holy Mother in the love of God and neighbor.
One should fight sin (through confession, examination of conscience, and repentance for sins) and take care of increasing our lives of grace (prayer, Holy Communion). Let us also celebrate the first Saturdays of the month.
Let us pray with Saint Faustina
MARY, MY MOTHER
O Mary, my Mother and my Lady, I offer You my soul, my body, my life and my death, and all that will follow it. I place everything in Your hands. O my Mother, cover my soul with Your virginal mantle and grant me the grace of purity of heart, soul and body. Defend me with Your power against all enemies, and especially against those who hide their malice behind the mask of virtue. O lovely lily! You are for me a mirror, O my Mother! (Diary 79).
MARY, IMMACULATE VIRGIN
Immaculate Virgin, Pure crystal for my heart, You are my strength, O sturdy anchor! You are the weak heart's shield and protection. Mary you are pure, of purity incomparable; At once both Virgin and Mother, You are beautiful as the sun, without blemish, And your soul is beyond all comparison. Your beauty has delighted the eye of the Thrice-Holy One. He descended from heaven, leaving His eternal throne, And took Body and Blood of your heart And for nine months lay hidden in a Virgin's Heart. O Mother, Virgin, purest of all lilies, Your heart was Jesus' first tabernacle on earth. Only because no humility was deeper than yours Were you raised above the choirs of Angels and above all Saints.
O Mary, my sweet Mother, I give you my soul, my body and my poor heart. Be the guardian of my life, Especially at the hour of death, in the final strife. (Diary 161).
O MARY, MY MOTHER
O Mary, my Mother, I humbly beg of You, cover my soul with Your virginal cloak at this very important moment of my life, so that thus I may become dearer to Your Son and may worthily praise Your Son’s mercy before the whole world and throughout all eternity (Diary 220).
MARY, IMMACULATE VIRGIN
Mary, Immaculate Virgin, take me under Your special protection and guard the purity of my soul, heart and body. You are the model and star of my life (Diary 874).
MOTHER OF GOD
Mother of God, Your soul was plunged into a sea of bitterness; look upon Your child and teach her to suffer and to love while suffering. Fortify my soul that pain will not break it. Mother of grace, teach me to live by [the power of] God (Diary 315).
O SWEET MOTHER OF GOD
O sweet Mother of God, I model my life on You; You are for me the bright dawn; In You I lose myself, enraptured. O Mother, Immaculate Virgin, In You the divine ray is reflected, Midst storms, ‘tis You who teach me to love the Lord, O my shield and defense from the foe (Diary 1232).
SWEET MOTHER
Sweet Mother, unite my soul to Jesus, because it is only then that I will be able to endure all trials and tribulations, and only in union with Jesus will my little sacrifices be pleasing to God. Sweetest Mother, continue to teach me about the interior life.
May the sword of suffering never break me. O pure Virgin, pour courage into my heart and guard it (Diary 915).
RADIANT VIRGIN
O radiant Virgin, pure as crystal, all immersed in God, I offer You my spiritual life; arrange everything that it may be pleasing to Your Son (Diary 844).
MOTHER OF GOD
Mother of God, Most Holy Mary, my Mother, You are my Mother in a special way now because Your beloved Son is my Bridegroom, and thus we are both Your children. For Your Son’s sake, You have to love me. O Mary, my dearest Mother, guide my spiritual life in such a way
that it will please Your Son (Diary 240).
Until Tomorrow
fr. george