The feast day today accompanies yesterday’s feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and it must be looked at in light of that particular feast. (For more on the Sacred Heart, check out this link to a post by my colleague, Dcn. Omar Gutierrez.)
It seems to me that our western culture has begun to sink further and further into nihilism, that is, the idea that everything is meaningless: religion, faith, morality, even life itself has no point or purpose. It is a world view that whenever I look out into the past, none of it matters, and when I look to the future, I see an endless void of nothingness. So, on this Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer this simple prayer: Mother, lead our world to Hope, lead us to your Son.
My devotion to the Blessed Mother has a lengthy history. In my early college years as an art major (I later changed majors several times like everyone else), I spent much of my time reimagining traditional devotional images. Many of those art projects were of the Immaculate Heart, and I recall one professor inviting me to try painting something else… I never did quite get it right! Suffice it to say, she was particularly important to me and it was on this feast day that I would make my choice of vocation. Having discussed with her my eventual plans to be ordained a deacon, In the year 2000 on July 1, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I asked my wife to marry me. More on that later…
The history of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart is in some small ways tied, like it’s companion, The Feast of the Sacred Heart, to the work of St. John Eudes, but the development takes a definitive turn with the visionaries of Fatima and the messages of the Blessed Virgin to the children there. In coming to know Our Lady more intimately, the Children became more and more devoted to her. Later, Sr. Lucia, the eldest of the visionaries also had visons of Our Lord and quotes Him as having stated that He wants us to “put the devotion to the Immaculate Heart beside the devotion to My Sacred Heart.” And so, a traditional Marian devotion began on first Saturdays, to sit beside the first Friday devotion.
But while tradition certainly heralds this feast, as do the three Gospel accounts which refer to the heart of the Blessed Mother (Luke 2:25-35, Luke 2:19, Luke 2:51), I found a science article a number of years ago that confirmed my devotion yet again. Check the link here for a similar article. As the devotion to the Sacred Heart is tied somewhat to the physical heart of Jesus Christ, we might also consider the biological connection between him and his mother. The biological connection between mother and child is significant beyond the reality that they share the same mitochondrial DNA. As the article above suggests, mothers keep some of their children’s cells living in their bodies, particularly in the brain, throughout their lifetimes! This same science also suggests that these same stem cells will migrate to wounded parts of the mother’s body when they are injured, specifically when the heart is wounded.
How might we read this science in light of the faith? In Luke 2:35 we see the prophetic announcement of Simeon at the presentation in the Temple as he spoke to Our Lady:
“…(and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
The Church and even her traditional imagery of the Immaculate Heart relay the idea that a sword pierced the heart of Mary at the same time a lance pierced the heart of her Son. Her mother’s heart being spiritually and certainly emotionally wounded at that very moment. But this idea of her Son’s own body, healing her wounded heart, of his cells repairing her cells, speaks of another spiritual reality.
This reality is expressed in one of our liturgical prayers when the sacred vessels are purified after Communion. As we consume the water mingled with the remaining particles of the Precious Host and the last drops of the Precious Blood we say inaudibly:
“What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what has been given to us in time may be our healing for eternity.”
We are healed by his body and blood when we invite him into a pure heart.
But the Nihilist replies to all this by saying, “so what. Even if we are healed, all of life is suffering and pain with nothing to look forward to but death.”
It is with full intent that I created that old micro-painting of the immaculate heart with a black background to represent just that sentiment. In my early teenage years, I had given in to just such an ideology and was wandering through life without hope. It was the Blessed Mother who interceded on my behalf.
You see, the primary weapon for a nihilist arguing their point is pain, suffering, and death. Yet, it is that very same weapon that Jesus turns back against them. Prior to the crucifixion, death had no meaning, suffer was just a loss. But God entered into time. God himself became man and suffered, as St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, in every possible way that a human being can suffer, even unto death. Then, even if nothing else, we can say that at least we have a God who has experienced our pain. But this is not where it ends.
His mother then points the way. At the moment his heart was pierced, she experienced a small part of his suffering in a way only a mother can. At the moment her heart was pierced, she united her suffering with his suffering. To suffer ceased to be a meaningless act in that very moment. In that moment, humanity gained through the gift of grace, the ability to offer our pain and sorrow as a gift to our Lord’s Sacred Heart, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart. In that moment, each of our sufferings became a gateway to intimacy with God himself, the source of meaning itself. Our difficulties and sufferings were no longer a punishment but rather a gift to draw us more closely to Him. The Devil is disarmed. Death turned in on itself.
But even this is not the end. There is still the joy of the resurrection. The wound does not last forever. If we invite him to be born into our hearts, he comes not just with his suffering and death but also with healing and the joy of what comes after! It is not just our suffering that He wishes us to share with Him. Everything takes on new meaning if it is united with Him, offered to Him, through her!
It was for this reason that I chose this day to propose, to offer my life to the one who would be my bride. I wanted every part of it to have meaning, “to take this wife of mine, not out of lust but for a noble purpose.”(Tobit 8:7a)
I was armed with gifts from both of my mothers that day: many graces sent by my heavenly mother, and the diamond from the engagement ring of my earthly mother. My parents had even made a stealthy trip north to deliver the newly crafted ring from Iowa City to Minneapolis for this occasion, meeting me in a parking lot and disappearing before the girl was any wiser. The jeweler had run behind and I was almost forced to delay the event but neither of my mothers were going to be denied this day!
I had the romantic notion that I would take her across Lake Sagatagan in rural Minnesota on a canoe to the Marian chapel on the other side. In all relationships people are constantly learning new things about each other, never more so than at the beginning. We got into the boat at a small beach and as we began to row across, I realized my future bride, the tried and true farm girl, had never paddled a canoe! This would have been no problem, had it not been for the high winds, but I too was not going to be conquered on this particular day! While the usual trip of 20 minutes or so took closer to an hour, as I struggled against the mighty headwind, we eventually made it to the small chapel named with one of Our Lady’s titles, Stella Maris (Star of the Sea).
There, a much younger, sweatier, and shaking version of myself, perhaps out of nervousness and perhaps due to the strenuous workout, took her inside the chapel and in front of the simple stone and wood altar, I asked her to marry me… after about five minutes of weeping and uncontrollable giddiness, she eventually said, “yes.” To commemorate the occasion, my wedding ring was crafted with a blue star sapphire (stella maris).
United with the Lord, every element of our married lives has taken on new meaning. Every move to every town, every birth of every child, every injury or illness, every death in the family, every meal, every bedtime, shines like a tiny star against the dark black nothingness of nihilism. Because HE came into the world. Because HE lived it too. And because his mother showed me how to welcome Him into my heart. May your heart too be pierced by this very same sword…
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