Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
He went down with them and came to
May the heart of Mary be in each one of us to proclaim the greatness of the Lord in our piety, study and action. May her spirit be in everyone to exult in God and live out that faith, hope and love in service to each other. (based upon a prayer by St. Ambrose)
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
(Recite the Hail Mary)
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
(Recite the Hail Mary)
V. And the Word was made Flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
(Recite the Hail Mary)
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
LET US PRAY
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
http://www.usccb.org/nab/061607.shtml
What do we live for? Every Cursillo weekend begins by asking us to contemplate that question in the “Ideal” talk. Where do we spend our time and our treasure?
Today, one day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we now celebrate the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The special day “celebrates the loving kindness of God, who, after giving to the Church the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ as a proof of his love, gave it also the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be contemplated as the model of the new heart of one who lives by the new Covenant.”[1] The Church could not celebrate one heart without the other. The hearts of Mary and Jesus are linked not only through birth, but also through the mystical power of the Church and what Mary lived for then and now.
In Marialus Cultus (http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Paul06/p6marial.htm), Pope Paul VI teaches us that “The ultimate purpose of devotion to the Blessed Virgin is to glorify God and to lead Christians to commit themselves to a life which is in absolute conformity with His will.” Just as the growing child and teenager Jesus was obedient to his parents, our meditation on the obedient and loving heart of Mary today and every Saturday is not an end in itself. It must lead us toward greater obedience to the heart of Jesus, the will of God and service to each other.
We can’t for a minute think we can escape a taste of the “great anxiety” that Mary experienced. She is a model for our times as well as her own. Think of all that was contained in her heart. Pregnant and unwed, she faced the journey to
From the outset, Mary knew that her heart, like His, would be pierced. As Simeon prophesied, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in
With the trust God placed in her, imagine for a minute what it would be like to lose such a precious gift in the story related by St. Luke. This is not like losing a ring or your favorite jacket or a material possession. God entrusted Mary with His very child. For three days Jesus was lost. Mary and Joseph looked all over the caravan and then back in the city to find Him. After three days, on the third day (ironic? not hardly!), she found him in the temple and had an important encounter with Jesus. Who could blame Mary and Joseph for experiencing such “great anxiety?”
After the troubling event, the Holy Couple were astonished at what they heard Jesus say in the temple just as the people listening to Jesus were amazed at his questions. How quickly they moved from despair to amazement.
In the end, we know that Mary was rewarded on earth and in heaven for a job done well. At the foot of the cross, Jesus blessed his mother. She had not only raised him in the fullness of time, she gave birth and rebirth to each member of the church at that moment as her maternal role was converted and extended in the darkening hours on Calvary.
In fulfilling her role, the love of Christ impelled Mary as an active witness to her son dying for all of us. Her heart was with him from conception right through her praying with the early Church. Jesus indeed died for all, and Mary, despite her own heart being pierced by the ingratitude of humanity, showed us how “those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” Living for Christ’s sake was what Mary did. It is where she leads us today.
Action
God has never lost us. He is the good shepherd and will always come after us. However, we often wander away from God like the lambs in search of the sweet grass in another field. While Mary and Jesus may have been physically separated, their hearts were always united.
Think about a time when you were living a life that was more distant from the friendship of Jesus. What did you do to get and remain closer to Him?
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