Pope St. John Paul II said, “From Mary we learn to love Christ, her Son and the Son of God. Learn from her to be always faithful, to trust that God’s Word to you will be fulfilled, and that nothing is impossible with God.”
On the day of our baptism, the invocation of the saints resounds for us. It is a time when we are gifted with this company of “older” brothers and sisters – the saints – who passed by our same way, who know our toils and live forever in God’s embrace.
A question we might ask is: “Can I be a saint in everyday life?” Sure! That doesn’t mean we spend all day praying in a cave. It means that we must be faithful all day whenever and wherever we pray, go to work, look after the children – whatever.
I believe the key is doing everything with our hearts open to God, so that our day is open to God. We can be saints because the Lord helps us. God gives us the grace to believe and to live so profoundly in Him that we become images of Christ for this world.
Saturday, June 17 is the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Historically, devotion to the Heart of Mary grew in parallel, but at a lesser intensity, than that of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus emphasizes His divine heart as being full of love for all humankind – whether accepted or rejected. The devotion to Mary's heart focuses on the love that her heart has for Jesus, for God.
The love of her heart is meant to be a model for the way we should love God. Honoring Mary’s Immaculate Heart is really just another way of honoring Mary as the person who was chosen to be the mother of God, recognizing her extraordinary holiness and the immense love she bestowed on Jesus as His mother, the person who was called to share in His redemptive sufferings. The aim of the devotion is to unite us to God through Mary’s heart.
Mary must have been a very remarkable young woman. Let’s face it. Becoming the mother of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, Bread of Life, Son of God was an unexpected situation – not to God, but to Mary, and certainly to Joseph.
But she made her decision immediately with “I will do according to Your word.” She then closed her curtains, her windows, her door and her house, not to lock herself in considering herself as a kind of living tabernacle with that treasure in her womb and meditating day and night about her privileged position. No, she closed her house to do something else: She went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
What had happened to her was not going to be a private matter. She wanted to share this joy. It’s the same for us: God’s activity in our lives is meant to be shared in community.
We need to take a moment to reflect on the impact of God’s choice of Mary. Given the times, God overturned several biases. Mary was youthful in a world and time that reverenced age. She was a woman in a society dominated by men. She was poor at a time when wealth was all-important.
Her “yes” was the beginning of all and everything that would happen to her during the rest of her life. Just like our yeses become the beginning of all and everything that happens during the rest of our lives.
God sent Jesus to free us from the slavery of sin, to transform unjust structures in this world and to create his kingdom with people who choose to believe and hope. When Mary said “yes,” she not only opened herself to receive Jesus in her womb; she also opened herself to that vision of justice and peace in the world – just as we should be open to that vision.
She shows us how to say yes from our own poverty of faith to face the world with the Good News that the Light will always overcome the darkness. We should never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much, as we can never love her more than Jesus did.
