THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY


THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP

2 Tim 4:1-8; Ps 71:8-9,14-17,22; Lk 2:41-51

The Mother who poured out her life for us

The Church, in her wisdom and deep understanding of the mysteries of our faith, celebrates the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the Saturday following the Friday of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The need to celebrate the two hearts together is because the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ and the Immaculate Heart of Mary were united in the work of human salvation and bound together with love the human mind cannot comprehend. The love of the Immaculate Heart for Jesus Christ runs on different levels. The first level is the pure love of a creature for her creator, who has filled her with manifold graces of heaven. The Heart of Mary is a pure and capacious vessel to receive the outpouring of the love of the Father, that is, the Holy Spirit, and the gift of his only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The second level is the love of a mother. The Immaculate Heart of Mary also has a maternal love for Jesus Christ. As his mother, she shared his life and concern for his mission for human salvation. The gospel is a record of one of her maternal solicitudes for the welfare of her Son. When Jesus went missing in the Temple in Jerusalem, they searched for him three days before seeing him in the Temple. “They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you."  

The third level of love is more mystical. The Immaculate Heart of Mary played a unique role as the closest associate of Jesus Christ in his salvific mission. The scriptures contain Mary and her Child as the sign and reality of human salvation. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ has a connection with Mary's Immaculate Heart. The two Hearts are uniquely united in the mystery of human redemption. Thus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary shares in the passion of the Sacred Heart in a unique way that is beyond our comprehension. The lance with which one of the soldiers pierced the Sacred Heart of Jesus in death also pierced the Immaculate Heart of Mary, standing at the foot of the Cross. If sinful mothers, who are not perfectly connected with their sons as the Blessed Virgin Mary with Jesus Christ, died of sorrow at the death of their sons because of their love for them, who can comprehend the passion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the foot of the Cross. This mystery is for us to contemplate to enrich ourselves with the mystical love of the Mother of Jesus Christ.

Finally, as our Lord Jesus Christ poured out his Sacred Heart for the love of the Father and the love of us, so did the Blessed Virgin Mary pour out her Immaculate Heart for the Father and for us. Her love for us is that of a creature and cannot be compared to the love our Lord Jesus Christ bears for us as God. But love is not measured in quantity but in quality. The Blessed Virgin Mary gave her whole heart to God the Father, God the Son whom she conceived, and God the Holy Spirit who filled her with heavenly graces, also gave her Immaculate Heart to the course of her children’s salvation. If the apostle Paul could pour out his whole life for the salvation of men in imitation of Jesus Christ our Lord, even more did our Blessed Mother. “As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing.” Let us learn to focus our gaze on the two Hearts of love and allow ourselves to be drawn into their sacrificial love as St. Paul did. This is what Christianity is: a loving sacrifice of self for God who sacrificed himself for us. 

Let us pray: O God, who prepared a fitting dwelling place for the Holy Spirit in the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, graciously grant that through her intercession we may be a worthy temple of your glory. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BECOMING A DEPENDABLE FRIEND

Image
FRIDAY, SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Eccl 6:5-17; Ps 119:12,16,18,27,34-35; Mk 10:1-12 Making and being a Good Friend The usefulness of a faithful friend is the subject discussed in the passage of Sirach we are considering. From the qualities that make a good friend, we understand that faithfulness depends on the perfection we attain in the formative school of wisdom. The first lesson we learn in nature is faithfulness. The quality of faithfulness is so closely aligned with nature that we consider nature and faithfulness synonyms. The faithfulness of nature, and subsequently of wisdom, is hinted at when we read that wisdom stands at her post/gate daily to beckon the passers-by to turn in and partake of her table. Everything that God made participates in this faithfulness of wisdom in the sense that each remains faithful to his will without failing or leading our minds astray. First, Sirach admonishes us on friendliness to people in general: “A kindly turn of speech multiplies a ...
Read more

UNDERSTANDING OUR AFFLICTIONS

Image
ST. JEROME, PRIEST, DOCTOR Job 1:6-22; Ps 17:1-3,6-7; Lk 9:46-50 Salvation of the Just from the affliction of evil We have the beginning of Job in the first reading today. The reading has many hidden lessons we can learn to foster our relationship with God. The first that seems very obvious is the fact of Satan attending to God with the sons of God. By this, we must understand that every rational creature of God is among his sons. They all attend to God, from whom they receive life and sustenance. God sustains all his creatures in being, both material and immaterial creatures. They also ask God for permission to carry out a course of action. Nothing moves in the heavens and on earth without God knowing and permitting it. The attending of rational creatures is what we call prayer. The good and bad angels pray to God for permission to carry out actions or bring about ends that agree with his divine will. God usually hears or permits these prayers based on his divine justice in acco...
Read more

The offsprings of the Old man and the New Man

Image
Monday, fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Offsprings of Old man and New Man To be able to live the new life within the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the old life must come to an end. The distinctive difference between the old man and the new man is the focus of desires. The old man and all who live by him have their desires focussed on the satisfaction of self. On the other hand, the new man and those living by him desires only to fulfil God's holy will. Thus, the old man and his offspring obey the law of sin and death. Living for self alone breeds sins, and sin causes death. So, the old man and all living by him are dead and harbingers of death to others. They are adept at manipulating the Law of God to perpetuate their interest and selfish desires. An example of this skill is the treatment the two old judges of Israel in Babylon meted out to Susanna, wife of Joachim, employing the Law of Moses as given in the first reading. “Two elderly men had ...
Read more