Immaculate Heart

Today is the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Our Gospel reading is from Luke (2:41-51). Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.

Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.

When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 

According to the Wikipedia, (begin) “The Immaculate Heart of Mary (Latin: Cor Immaculatum Mariae) is a Roman Catholic devotional name used to refer to the Catholic view 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 [sorrows] of Mary and roses, usually red or white, wrapped around the heart…

In chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke, it is twice stated that Mary kept all things in her heart, that there she might ponder over them. Luke 2:35 recounts the prophecy of Simeon that her heart would be pierced with a sword. This image (the pierced heart) is the most popular representation of the Immaculate Heart.

 The Gospel of John further invites attention to Mary's heart with its depiction of Mary at the foot of the cross at Jesus' crucifixion. Augustine of Hippo said of this that Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the cross; ‘she cooperated through charity in the work of our redemption.’ Augustine says that she was more blessed in having borne Christ in her heart than in having conceived him in the flesh.” (end)

Twelve year-old Jesus was quite the kid!  Traditionally, the Seven Sorrows are: (1) The Prophecy of Simeon in Luke 2; (2) The Flight into Egypt in Matthew 2; (3)The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, also in Luke 2; (4) Mary meeting Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, the Fourth station of the Cross; (5) The Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and especially John 19; (6) Jesus's Descent from the Cross in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19; (7) The Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea also in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19.

I admit I’ve never given any thought to these sorrows.  I’m not a cradle Catholic.  Except for a few of the seven sorrows, I don’t see the sorrow.  I’d rather be guided by Mary’s Magnificat.  That’s far more straightforward.  Hail Mary, full of grace.”

Deacon David Pierce