Unlike Jesus’ heart which is sacred, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s heart is pure and immaculate. The Immaculate Heart of Mary is the source of her burning love for God and her desire to bring people to her Son Jesus.
Jesus’ sacred humanity comes from the flesh and blood of Mary, his heart from hers. To prepare for the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Mary was conceived without the stain of Original Sin and did not commit any personal sins during her life.
At the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel declared to Mary that she was favored by God and full of grace. She responded, showing that she was open to the will of God.
The Blessed Mother accompanied Jesus on his mission and pondered the events of Jesus’ life in her heart.
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is supported by Sacred Scripture, promoted by several saints, and revealed in various private revelations.
Mary’s heart is symbolized by a heart pierced by a sword illustrating her love for Jesus and her sorrows, white flowers indicating her purity, and flames representing her burning devotion for her Son. The image is surrounded by rays of the sun.
The Church celebrates the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary on a Saturday, the day after the Solemnity of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Praying to have a heart like hers:
A model of how to love Jesus:
A symbol of Mary’s true and genuine goodness:
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.” And He said to them, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what He said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.”
Luke 2: 48-51
Her heart never said “No” to God:
A heart free from the stain of original sin:
Her heart is not sacred, but is immaculate:
In Sacred Scripture we often find that God seeks righteous men and women in order to save the city of man and He does the same here, in Fatima, when Our Lady asks: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which He will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?” At a time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty and selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven, offering to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the Love of God burning in her own heart. At that time it was only to three children, yet the example of their lives spread and multiplied, especially as a result of the travels of the Pilgrim Virgin, in countless groups throughout the world dedicated to the cause of fraternal solidarity. May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 13 May 2010
The model of the redeemed:
The throne of all virtue:
The “splendour of an entirely unique holiness” by which Mary is “enriched from the first instant of her conception” comes wholly from Christ: she is “redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son”. The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and chose her “in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love”.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 492
The heart of the mother joined to the heart of her son:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
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