Today the Church honors the Immaculate Heart of
Her mother, Mary. One's heart is the core of one's being, so to consider Mary's
Heart is to meditate on who she truly was and is. At her first appearance we
are aware that God is her Treasure; she had found favor with God and accepts
willingly God's will for her life (cf. Lk. 1:30, 38). Where her treasure was,
there clearly was her heart. Twice in the Gospels we are told that "she
kept all these things" - the mystery of Jesus Christ - "in her heart"
(Lk. 2:19, 51).
Devotion to the Heart of Mary has a long
history. It was popular but without much official recognition until the 20th
century when, in 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal
and told them, "God wishes to establish in the world a devotion to my
Immaculate Heart." Today, on the grounds of our retreat house, we have a
statue depicting that scene in our rosary terrace, offering prayerful
reflection for our retreatants. Twenty-five years later, on December 8th, 1942,
Pope Pius XII dedicated the Church and the human race to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary.
The beauty and the depth of our mother Mary's
Heart are surely the most profound mysteries of this world. She shows us what
it means to love God with our whole heart, holding nothing back, and to be
united together with "one heart and mind" (Acts 4:32). May we imitate
in our lives her singleness of heart!
Deacon John Ruscheinsky