Entrusting ourselves to the loving, Immaculate Heart of Mary our Mother
Reflections on the readings for the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (June 20, 2020): 2 CHR 24:17-25; PS 89:4-5,29-30,31-32,33-34; LK 2:41-51
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days
The Blessed Virgin welcomes us into her heart because...
On this feast venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Heart, we need to consider the love and loyalty she ceaselessly offers God. Her heart is a wondrous reflection of her Son’s Sacred Heart. For His sake, she loves us also, and does everything possible to guide us to Him. We have only to rely on her inspiration and intercession and to cooperate with God’s grace. She knows that we cannot grasp all our Lord asks of us as we go through our daily lives. Neither did she. In the Gospel reading, we can easily imagine the fear that she and St. Joseph felt while they spent three long, tense, upsetting days seeking Jesus. “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’” (Luke 2:48). We might think that surely the Blessed Mother would have known that the Eternal Father would protect His Son. But Mary is human and she and Joseph might well have wondered if they had somehow failed in their responsibilities. After all, while the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple is one of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, the search for her missing Son is numbered among the Seven Sorrows that pierced her heart like a sword. Mary wants to comfort and help us in our times of trouble because she experienced them for herself.
The Blessed Virgin welcomes us into her heart because that there we will be closer to the heart of Christ. Let us ask her to help us imitate her fidelity to Almighty God by avoiding sin and doing His will. For Jesus’ sake and for ours, Mary is always ready to listen to each one of her children, especially when we are in greatest need.
Suggested missionary action: Today, we can honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary by praying the World Mission Rosary. We can pray for the Church’s missionaries and the many men, women, and children they help in both spiritual and material ways.
