The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12, & Luke 2:41-51

In celebrating Mary's Immaculate Heart, we celebrate "her single-heartedness." Sin divides our hearts between ourselves and God, making us no longer single-hearted or immaculate of heart. However, as with any other time when we honor Mary, we run the risk of making her distant and unique, precisely as we mean to exalt her. As a result of her "perfect heart", we tend to conclude that we are not in her league.

After much reflection and many conversations with our Blessed Mother, I would like to consider another dimension of Mary's heart that may aid us in realizing that she is very much in our league. It is a dimension hinted at the end of today's Gospel narrative, namely, the heart of a mother. A mother who, as we heard, "kept all these things in her heart."

Mary faced various situations she did not understand. We are told explicitly this at the Nativity and in the episode in today's Gospel. However, implicitly we are told the same when she hears Simeon's prediction, or when her Son seems to be telling her at the Cana wedding that this is none of your business when she hears Jesus say, "Who is my mother?" and most of all at the foot of the Cross. Mary kept moving on without complete understanding through all the complexities, pondering all of it in her Immaculate Heart.

Our beautiful Blessed Mother, Mary, continually displayed her steadfastness. Her single-heartedness was not based on what we would call "external evidence" but on faith. Her "pondering" within her heart without complete understanding helped her move from not understanding to not needing to understand. She had faith, and she had trust.

Question of the Day: Will you pray to our Mother in heaven to renew us in healing love and to become faithful ambassadors for Christ, her Son, within our homes and world?

Prayer: "Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the Word of God and pondered it in her heart." Amen.

Prosit