Information about the Immaculate Heart of Mary[1]
Readings for the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 2 Cor 5:14-21
This passage from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians has a distinctly initiative flavor. First he speaks of dying with Christ, becoming one with him in the spirit. This occurs in the sacrament of Baptism. The whole idea of being reconciled to God in Christ is inherent in the Sacrament of Confirmation and concluded in the Eucharist. These of course are the three sacraments of Christian Initiation.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
This song of praise rightly focuses our attention on our love of God on this day when the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary so forcefully asks us to reciprocate to the His love for us which we celebrated yesterday with the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Gospel Luke 2:41-51
Placed today on the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the story of the young Jesus in the temple is a fitting example of the love Mary had for her son. Especially when we hear “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart” we can feel the love Mary has for her son and get the sense that she cherished her time with him.
Reflection:
Yesterday’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is joined appropriately with today’s Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Yesterday we rejoiced in the love our Savior has for us. Today, his Mother, our Mother, Mary, reminds us that he expects to be loved by us in return. Even as we know that we can never earn the love of Christ, that we can never receive it on our own merits, we know that our love of Jesus must be made clear.
Today we reflect not just in prayer by in a very pragmatic way about how we can accede to Mother Mary’s fervent hope and example. She demonstrated for us how that love could be shown. She was the first to believe in him. Her actions most closely echoed his command to love one another. She clearly loved the Lord with such intensity and passion that her heart was pierced at his death as Simeon had predicted.
We cannot hope to rival the love of the Theotokos, the Mother of God, in her love for her Son. We may have difficulty finding the intense emotional attachment to the Lord she showed us so naturally. But we can demonstrate our love for Him through our actions.
Think for a moment about how others know we love our parents or our siblings or even our close friends. We do things for them that please them. We spend time with them and we behave in ways that make them happy, sharing our joy and our sorrow.
Readings for the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 2 Cor 5:14-21
This passage from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians has a distinctly initiative flavor. First he speaks of dying with Christ, becoming one with him in the spirit. This occurs in the sacrament of Baptism. The whole idea of being reconciled to God in Christ is inherent in the Sacrament of Confirmation and concluded in the Eucharist. These of course are the three sacraments of Christian Initiation.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
This song of praise rightly focuses our attention on our love of God on this day when the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary so forcefully asks us to reciprocate to the His love for us which we celebrated yesterday with the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Gospel Luke 2:41-51
Placed today on the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the story of the young Jesus in the temple is a fitting example of the love Mary had for her son. Especially when we hear “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart” we can feel the love Mary has for her son and get the sense that she cherished her time with him.
Reflection:
Yesterday’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is joined appropriately with today’s Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Yesterday we rejoiced in the love our Savior has for us. Today, his Mother, our Mother, Mary, reminds us that he expects to be loved by us in return. Even as we know that we can never earn the love of Christ, that we can never receive it on our own merits, we know that our love of Jesus must be made clear.
Today we reflect not just in prayer by in a very pragmatic way about how we can accede to Mother Mary’s fervent hope and example. She demonstrated for us how that love could be shown. She was the first to believe in him. Her actions most closely echoed his command to love one another. She clearly loved the Lord with such intensity and passion that her heart was pierced at his death as Simeon had predicted.
We cannot hope to rival the love of the Theotokos, the Mother of God, in her love for her Son. We may have difficulty finding the intense emotional attachment to the Lord she showed us so naturally. But we can demonstrate our love for Him through our actions.
Think for a moment about how others know we love our parents or our siblings or even our close friends. We do things for them that please them. We spend time with them and we behave in ways that make them happy, sharing our joy and our sorrow.
Using that simple model, that is how we show our love for Jesus. That is the beaconing call of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We do things that please the Lord, we praise His Father (he always enjoys that), and we act in ways that tell others “Oh, they must be Christians”. We serve others, because the Lord’s life and His Mother’s were dedicated to serving others. And we spend time with the Lord, as much time as possible. We talk with him in prayer, not just to ask for things like a spoiled child or and ungrateful friend, but talking to him about the things we have been able to accomplish with his help and about our joys and sorrows. Finally we spend time with him physically in his gift of the Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration. Is this not the way we act with those we love?
Scripture tells us that Mary, Most Holy loved the Lord like no one else could and in her Immaculate Heart we see that example, clear for us to follow. Let us today be revitalized by that plea and embrace the Lord with our actions.
Pax
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