Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Immaculate Heart of Mary

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Immaculate Heart of Mary - our refuge to lead us to God

Today is the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The pure, Immaculate Heart of Our Lady is a devotion related to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our Lady who was obedient to God, has the purity of heart that she was able to conceive the Word of God made flesh.

The Church teaches that the doctrines about Our Lady also relate to us - the pure Immaculate Heart of hers is one that we need to imitate. Here is an excerpt from St Lawrence Justinian in the Office of Readings :

Imitate her, O faithful soul. Enter into the deep recesses of your heart so that you may be purified spiritually and cleansed from your sins. God places more value on good will in all we do than on the works themselves.

Therefore, whether we give ourselves to God in the work of contemplation or whether we serve the needs of our neighbor by good works, we accomplish these things because the love of Christ urges us on. The acceptable offering of the spiritual purification is accomplished not in a man-made temple but in the recesses of the heart where the Lord Jesus freely enters.

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*Preface of The Immaculate Heart of Mary*

The Heart of Mary Is the Heart of One Who Lives by the New Law.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with your spirit.

V. Lift up your hearts.

R. We lift them up to the Lord.

V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

R. It is right and just.

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,

always and everywhere to give you thanks,

Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,

through Christ our Lord.

For you gave the Blessed Virgin Mary

a wise and obedient heart,

that she might perfectly carry out your will,

a new and gentle heart,

in which you were well pleased

and on which you inscribed

the law of the New Covenant.

You gave her an undivided and pure heart,

that she might be worthy

to be the Virgin Mother of your Son

and to rejoice to see you for ever.

You gave her a steadfast and watchful heart,

so that she could endure without fear the sword of sorrow

and await in faith the Resurrection of her Son.

With the whole company of the Angels

we sing your praises

in their canticle of joy:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.