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| Cuore Immacolato della Beata Vergine Maria |
Immaculate Heart of Mary - Memorial
"The mysterium of the Heart of Jesus is projected onto and reverberates in the Heart of his Mother, who is also one of his followers and a disciple... The memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a celebration of the complex visceral relationship of Mary with her Son's work of salvation: from the Incarnation, to his death and resurrection, to the gift of the Holy Spirit"
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Opening Prayer
Father,
you prepared the heart of the Virgin Mary
to be a fitting home for your Holy Spirit.
By her prayers
may we become a more worthy temple of your glory.
Father,
you prepared the heart of the Virgin Mary
to be a fitting home for your Holy Spirit.
By her prayers
may we become a more worthy temple of your glory.
Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy
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| John Eudes with Hearts |
Saint John Eudes (1601-1680), priest, preacher, founder of Religious Insitutes
The wondrous Heart, Book 9, ch. 4
Amongst all the feasts of the Virgin Mary that of her heart is like the heart and queen of all the rest because the heart is the seat of love and charity. What is the subject matter of this particular solemnity? It is the heart of the well-beloved, only Daughter of the eternal Father, the heart of the Mother of God, the heart of the Bride of the Holy Spirit, the heart of the best of Mothers to all the faithful. It is a heart wholly on fire with love for God and aflame with charity towards us.
It is all love for God since it has never loved anything but God alone and whatever God wanted it to love in him and for his sake. It is wholly love since the blessed Virgin has always loved God with all her heart and soul and strength (Mk 12,30). It is all love because she has not only always wanted whatever God wanted and never wanted what he did not want, but still more because she has always placed all her happiness in God's most loveable will.
It is all love for us for she loves us with the same love with which she loves God since it is God she sees and loves in us. And she loves us with the same love with which she loves the Man God, her son Jesus. For she knows him to be our leader and head and ourselves to be his members (Col 2,19) and, therefore, that we are but one with him.
It is all love for God since it has never loved anything but God alone and whatever God wanted it to love in him and for his sake. It is wholly love since the blessed Virgin has always loved God with all her heart and soul and strength (Mk 12,30). It is all love because she has not only always wanted whatever God wanted and never wanted what he did not want, but still more because she has always placed all her happiness in God's most loveable will.
It is all love for us for she loves us with the same love with which she loves God since it is God she sees and loves in us. And she loves us with the same love with which she loves the Man God, her son Jesus. For she knows him to be our leader and head and ourselves to be his members (Col 2,19) and, therefore, that we are but one with him.
