"Jesus wishes to use you in order to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it; and these souls will be beloved of God like flowers arranged by me to adorn His throne." Our Lady of Fatima
In 1942, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Fatima, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That same year, he assigned the feast day to August 22, the octave of the Assumption. On May 4, 1944, he extended the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Universal Church. With the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council in 1969, the feast was given a more suitable place on the day following the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That is the Saturday after the second Sunday after Pentecost.
"Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart." Luke 2:19
Let us ask Mary the way to ponder things in our heart.
Mary had great joy and great suffering. Mary did not always understand, but she said "yes" to the Lord, even when she did not know. When we do not understand things in our lives, our human emotions can cover a wide range. We can feel confused, upset, afraid, angry, agitated. When we do as Mary did, ponder all things in her heart, she teaches us how to have peace in the midst of the storms of our lives. Why? It is because Mary always contemplated the Face of her Beloved Son. Mary is our model. When she gave her "Fiat", she did not know what it meant. We will not always know where the Lord is leading us, but when we seek His Face and His Will for our lives and say, "yes", we will have peace and He will lead us.
How can we ponder things in our heart like Mary did?
Mary has a pure Immaculate Heart. We can only do as Mary did by falling in love with her Beloved Son. When we fall in love with Jesus, He pours His love into our heart. When we consecrate our life to Jesus through Mary, they come with the Holy Spirit, into our heart. The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary are perfectly intertwined. Love beats in unison in these two Holy Hearts. When we invite them into our heart, they come and they transform our heart. Love enters. When we have a heart that loves, we can keep and ponder all things in our heart.
Saint Pope John Paul II, in his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, wrote "the mystery of Redemption was formed under the heart of the Virgin of Nazareth when she pronounced her fiat." In her life of contemplation, Mary provides us with an example of one who sought tirelessly “the one thing” that is needed.
"She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." Luke 10:39-42
Jesus invites you to come and sit beside Him at His feet and listen to Him speak. He wants to speak a word to you. He loves you. Come and sit with Him in Eucharistic adoration or before the tabernacle...
As Saint Pope John Paul II wrote in the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, “No one has ever devoted herself to the contemplation of the Face of Christ as faithfully as Mary. The eyes of her heart already turned to Him at the Annunciation, when she conceived Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. And in continuing to contemplate the Face of Christ throughout her life, Mary constantly discovered new depths of the Father’s love for the whole of creation, and she witnessed the grace of the Spirit being poured into the hearts of all who accepted her Son."
Immaculate Heart of Mary, give us a heart like yours. Pray for us and all those we pray for through this ministry.
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