This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
On this feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, today’s readings present to us three distinct traits of the heart of the Blessed Virgin.
First, the gospel gives us a window into Mary’s contemplative heart. She was truly dismayed when she and Joseph had lost track of Jesus. Imagine losing your child in a crowd, and not finding him for three days. This would leave the heart of any parent distraught. But when she found Jesus, she did not correct Him or grow angry with Him. Rather, she asked Him, her divine Son, why He had done what He had done, and then after receiving the rather cryptic answer, she contemplated in her heart how God had been working through these events. While subject to anxiety like any other human, Mary trusted to her core in God’s loving Providence working in her life, and knew how to contemplate the events in her life continually in the light of that Providence, rather than through a prism of personal insecurity or personal vanity.
“The Lord is kind and merciful,” the psalm tells us. On this day, we celebrate that the heart of Mary imitates this divine trait and is likewise kind and merciful, always ready to hear the requests of sinners, whatever their misdeeds. We can always ask her help and intercession, and dialogue with her, no matter how ashamed we may feel of our sinfulness–and we will always receive a warm, kind, compassionate reception.
Finally, in the first reading, St. Paul expresses himself in a tone that likewise mirrors a characteristic of Mary’s heart: “The love of Christ impels us.” Throughout this reading, Paul exudes a tone of urgency as he implores his hearers to be reconciled to God. Mary’s heart is full of passion for the reconciliation of sinners to the Heart of her Son. Her entire work in the Church over the last two millennia, including the messages she has delivered with her appearances, has been full of ardent supplication for prayer and sacrifice for sinners. Her love for her children is not an idle one.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to fill you with the kind of love that filled his mother’s heart, which transcended in its trust the natural human psychological ebbs and flows, even as she experienced them like anyone else. Ask Him to fill you with spontaneous kindness, and ardent passion for the eternal welfare of others.
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