Today, the church celebrates the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the day after the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is celebrated on the Saturday following the second Sunday after Pentecost, the day after the feast of the Sacred Heart, which is celebrated on the Friday following the second Sunday after Pentecost. The coming together in this way of the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary brings home to us the unique relationship between Jesus and His Mother Mary. The closeness of the two celebrations shows how the heart of Mary is close to the heart of her Son. The word ‘Immaculate’ comes from the Latin noun ‘macula’, which in English means a spot or stain, and the Latin adjetive ‘maculatus’, which means stained. Immaculatus, then, is unstained. When we speak of the immaculate heart of Mary we are stating that her heart was free of all moral stain. It was a heart that was completely given over to God, and to her Son, who was God incarnate. She is to be found among ‘the pure in heart’, whom Jesus declares blessed because they will see God. Mary had that purity of heart or intention; she was single minded in her devotion to God and to her Son, who was also God’s Son. This devotion honors Mary’s perfect purity of heart in virtue of her Immaculate Conception, and the perfect union of her heart—on fire with love for God and her spiritual children—with the heart of her Son, Jesus. The traditional image of the heart of Jesus is of a pierced heart, a heart that has suffered because of love. The heart of Mary is also a pierced heart. When Jesus was presented in the Temple, Simeon said to Mary, ‘a sword will pierce your own soul too’. This memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary celebrates Mary as one whose heart is given over completely to God’s will and purpose for her life. The Sacred Heart of Jesus reveals God’s unconditional love for us all. Mary’s immaculate heart reveals her total love for God, with all her heart, mind, soul and strength. In two passages in the Gospel of Luke we have reference to Mary treasuring and pondering in her heart the sacred events of Jesus’ life, which became the foundation of the pious devotion to the Heart of Mary in the Church.
In the midst of the second world war Pope Pius XII put the whole world under the special protection of our Savior’s Mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart, and in 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is not a new devotion. In the seventeenth century, St. John Eudes preached it together with that of the Sacred Heart; in the nineteenth century, Pius VII and Pius IX allowed several churches to celebrate a feast of the Pure Heart of Mary. Pope Pius XII instituted today’s feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the whole Church, so as to obtain by her intercession “peace among nations, freedom for the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtue” (Decree of May 4, 1944). We commemorate this Feast in honor of the interior life of Mary, mother of Jesus, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus Christ, and her motherly and compassionate love for all mankind. Traditionally, the Immaculate Heart is depicted pierced with seven swords or wounds, in homage to the seven dolors of Mary and roses, usually red or white, wrapped around the heart. Patron Saint of Apostleship of Prayer, Ratnapura Diocese, Alliance of Sacred Hearts, Russian Territories, Scotland, Central Africa, Republic of the Congo, Angola, Ecuador, Panama, Minglanilla, Cebu, Philippines, and, Georgia.
HAIL MARY:Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death… Amen🙏🏽
THE MEMORARE: Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen🙏🏽
PRAYER: Lord our God, you made the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary the home of your eternal Word and the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. Give us a heart that is free from sin and attentive to your will, that, faithful to your commandments, we may love you above all things and seek to help others in their need. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏🏽
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us. Amen🙏🏽
MEMORIAL OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY | https://dailyreflectionswithphilomena.com/memorial-of-the-immaculate-heart-of-mary/