June 28: Immaculate Heart of Mary / Inmaculado Corazón de María

How often do we find ourselves asking “why?” Or “how much?” Or “what time is it?” Our heads (or our brains, if you will) are always making distinctions, comparing, and calling things into question. Our heads often think in numbers and percentages; they like precision, correctness, and a lack of ambiguity. In Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot, one of the characters, on hearing that one of the two thieves crucified with Jesus was saved, remarked, “It was a fair percentage!”

Meanwhile, today’s feastday of the Immaculate Heart of Mary urges us to reach down deep into our hearts and find there what really motivates us: love. This was certainly true for the Virgin Mary. Her heart was focused on the love she had for Jesus, her Son, and through Him, for the Eternal Father. Her love, in fact, is the model for the way we are invited to love God.

The focus today on her heart as Immaculate (or sinless) reminds us that she is uniquely able to love God and that she has always had one great desire: to lead us closer to God. Honoring Mary’s Immaculate Heart today is a way to honor her as the one chosen to be the Mother of Christ. It is our joy to recognize her extraordinary holiness and the immense love she had for Jesus, as His mother, drawing her to share and cooperate in His plan to save the world. And we are the happy recipients of that salvation.

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La celebración de hoy, en honor del Inmaculado Corazón de María, está vinculada muy de cerca con la solemnidad del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, celebrada ayer. No es así por mero accidente. Cuando honramos al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús celebramos claramente el gran amor de nuestro Señor, mostrado al morir por nosotros en la Cruz, y que sigue mostrándonoslo día a día. 

La Virgen María vivía íntimamente unida a su Hijo, y no solamente porque era su madre, sino porque ella amaba y ama a todos y cada uno por los que su Hijo vivió, murió, y Resucitó de entre los muertos. Su corazón es suficientemente ancho como para incluirnos a todos nosotros en su amor. Estamos agradecidos porque ella está con nosotros, en nuestras penas y alegrías.

Para reflejar: Según San Bernardo de Claraval, “Dios nos ha dado a María para que vele sobre nosotros, se preocupe por nosotros, y ruegue con y por nosotros. Sí, María se preocupa por nosotros. ¿No podría ser acaso nuestra mejor acción de gracias el que aprendamos a cuidarnos los unos de los otros, y de ofrecerles todo el servicio que podamos?”