The Sisters Of the Visitation of Tyringham

Live + Jesus

HEART OF JESUS, HEART OF MARY

Jesus Living in Mary

by Sister Mary Ruth

May 2008

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Dear Friends of the Heart of Christ,

The month of May, in our Catholic tradition, is called Mary's month because over the years it has come to be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When some of us were young, it was the custom in our Catholic schools or in our parishes to have a May Crowning ceremony during which a statue of Our Lady was crowned with a wreath of flowers or even an actual crown and it was always a special privilege to be chosen as the student who crowned Our Lady. We still keep that tradition in our monastery.

Since Easter was so early this year, March 23, (the earliest it will ever be in our lifetime), many Feasts that occur after Pentecost also fall in the month of May, most notably the Feast of the Sacred Heart, which is celebrated this year on May 30, the day before the Feast of the Visitation, May 31. Since the Feast of the Sacred Heart comes in May, I thought that it would be fitting to speak not only of the Heart of Jesus, but also of the Heart of Mary, His Mother.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus may be said to be as old as Christianity. The words used by the Evangelist, John, to record the piercing of the side of Christ on Calvary have been an invitation to Christians throughout the centuries to enter into that Sacred Heart as the dwelling place of Christ's boundless love for us. The early Fathers of the Church found profound significance in this event and their writings reveal their own grateful love and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Saints of the Middle Ages like Bonaventure, Bernard, Bernardine, Mechtilde, and Gertrude were all absorbed in the contemplation of the love of the Heart of Christ. Many of these Saints have written about the love of Jesus for us and have reminded us of how we should love Him in return.

However, only in the last few centuries has public devotion to the Sacred Heart come into prominence, first of all, through Saint John Eudes, a missionary to the people of his own country, France, and most importantly for us, through our own Visitation Sister, Saint Margaret Mary. The practice of devotion to the Sacred Heart is essentially a response that we give to the immense love which Jesus has for us. The test of our love for God is observance of the commandments and the joyful and generous doing of His will; the test of our love for our brothers and sisters is above all our desire and zeal for their salvation.

One of the most beautiful prayers composed in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is that of the Litany of the Sacred Heart. And one of the most-lovely petitions in that litany is: "Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us." The Blessed Trinity willed that the Second Person, Son of the Eternal Father, should begin His human life in the womb of a woman, Mary of Nazareth. Jesus was sheltered and nourished by His Mother, Mary. He was given His human life from her substance; His Heart was formed from her body. There were two beating hearts within her body, her own and that of her Infant Son.

Saint Bernard tells us that it is God's will that all of His gifts should reach us through Mary. The Holy Spirit has made Mary the most perfect likeness of Christ and through her, our own spiritual Mother, He will impress this likeness upon us. We should ask her to remind us of our duties to God, to call our attention to the inspiration of divine grace, to make us understand the will of God, to support our faltering steps, to lift us up when we fall.

So we have received through the Holy Spirit the "Heart of Jesus formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother". The hope of all of the people in this world are Christians in whom the Heart of Jesus has been formed by the Holy Spirit through Mary. It is they alone who can lovingly help others, as parents first and foremost, as religious, and in all other professions and areas of work in which they find themselves.

When we speak of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we can also reflect on the symbol that the word, "heart", has for us. From time immemorial the HEART has been known as a symbol of LOVE. In the Middle Ages it was thought that the heart was the seat of the emotions. While we now know that feelings and emotions have more complex origins in our psyches than was previously thought, we still see the heart as a symbol of love. Just think for a moment of the designs on our Valentine's Day cards! With this in mind let's think of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, both Hearts overflowing with love for God and for each other and for each one of us.

When a person loves us, we usually sense their love, and most often we return that love. In the South when someone tells another person that they love him or her, and if that love is reciprocated, the other person usually replies, "And I love you back."

If we truly love someone and they return that love, we believe in their love for us and, most importantly we trust in that love. One of the most painful experiences that we can have in life is when our trust in the person whom we love is somehow broken. There is a terrible devastation that follows. We feel absolutely devastated when it becomes apparent to us that the love we thought was there has gradually grown cold, and even worse, perhaps never even existed in the first place! We feel that our love and our trust have been betrayed.

Let us imagine a love that is always constant, always true, and one that can be trusted forever. The love that Jesus and Mary have for us never diminishes, is always constant. Only we, ourselves, in not responding to that love, cause the estrangement that we might feel in our hearts.

Next to the Heart of Jesus, the Heart of His Blessed Mother should be the object of our most tender love and confidence. Our Foundress, Saint Jane de Chantal, says that our prayers are agreeable to the Blessed Virgin, when we praise God for the greatness which He bestowed on her, and for the choice He made of her to be His Mother. Saint Francis de Sales tells us that in loving the Heart of Jesus, he also loved that of Mary, His Mother. He tells us in his Treatise on the Love of God that the Blessed Trinity prepared Mary's Heart by filling it with divine love in order that His only Son might be the cherished object of a mother's tenderness in this world as He is the object of the Eternal Father's love in eternity. We know that Saint Francis, our Founder, also dedicated his Treatise to the Blessed Virgin.

In addition to speaking of our Founder's special love for the Blessed Virgin, I would like to highlight one Feast of the Blessed Virgin that occurs in May and that is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13. In particular, I would like to recount the second apparition that Our Lady made to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco on June 13, 1917.

On June 13, the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, Our Lady appeared to the three children. She told them, "I want you to come here on the thirteenth day of the coming month and to recite the five decades of the Rosary every day." Then Lucia asked the Lady to take them to heaven. Our Lady replied that she would take Jacinta and Francisco soon but that she would have to remain on earth for some time more. Jesus wishes to make use of you to have me acknowledged and loved. He wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. "I stay here?" Lucia was dismayed. "Alone?" "No, daughter. Don't be discouraged. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the road that will conduct you to God."

With these last words she opened her hands, as she had on the previous occasion, and again communicated to them the light that streamed in two rays from her palms, enveloping the children in its heavenly radiance. Before the palm of the right hand of Our Lady was a Heart encircled by thorns which seemed to have pierced it like nails. The children understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, suffering for the sins of all people, for which we needed to make reparation.

There were six apparitions from May to October. At the last apparition Our Lady asked that the world be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. Of course, it was necessary that the Bishop of the diocese make an official investigation into these revelations because that is the prudent course that is always taken. Moreover, at that time, the government of the impoverished country of Portugal was atheistic, leaning heavily toward the Russian form of Communism and all of Europe was soon to be engulfed in the First World War.

In 1949 the Bishop of the diocese of Leiria, Portugal approved the apparitions, Pius XII was also favorable to them, Paul VI visited Fatima in 1967 and, finally, on May 13, 1984, the Servant of God, John Paul II, in spiritual union with all the bishops of the world, consecrated the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. John Paul II believed that it was the Blessed Virgin's maternal hand that had diverted the bullet's path at the 1981 attempt on his life, preventing it from being fatal. The attack took place on May 13, the same date of the first apparition of Fatima in 1917, and the doctors acknowledged that the bullet shot from close range, followed a strange zigzagging trajectory, avoiding vital organs. Even the would-be assassin could not understand why the Holy Father lived. When John Paul II met with him in his prison cell, Mehmet Ali Agca could only say, "You are supposed to be dead."

From the earlie st days of the Church until our present day devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary is an important part of the treasure of the Church, which is offered to each of us as a means to grow closer to Our Lord and to His Mother.

I would like to close with this beautiful prayer to Jesus and Mary written by the founder of the Sulpician Priests, Jean-Jacques Olier, 1608-1657.

O Jesus, living in Mary,
Come and live in Your servants,
In the spirit of Your holiness,
In the fullness of Your might,
In the truth of Your virtues,
In the perfection of Your ways,
In the communion of Your mysteries.
Come and subdue every hostile power
In Your Spirit, for the glory of the Father. Amen.

This presentation was given at the Monastery of the Visitation of Tyringham, MA on Thursday May 1, 2008

God be Praised