REFLECTION FOR TODAY
June 12, 2021
By Fr. Andrew Ibegbulem, OSA
He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. Lk. 2:51
Today we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A heart that loves and understands the many mysteries of life. A heart that finds peace with God. A heart that trusted in God even in the seemingly impossible and difficult situation of life.
Our gospel reference of today forms part of the account of Jesus in the temple among the teachers and wisest men in the society. Jesus had gone to the temple as was the custom since he was 12 years old and stay behind after the ceremony while his parents returned home. When they discovered he was missing they went back looking for him.
On finding the Child Jesus in the temple and hearing the response of Jesus, His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary kept everything in her heart. The Blessed Virgin Mary’s heart was a heart filled with every virtue. She loved with a love that was indescribable.
What Mary especially pondered in her Immaculate Heart, over and over throughout her life, was the pure and perfect love she had for her Son. To her, this love left her in amazement. As we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it is an opportunity for us to ponder her pondering heart.
A human heart is not just physical, it is also spiritual. It is the spiritual source of our love of God and others. From our heart flows either virtue or vice, love or hate, generosity or selfishness. As we honor the Immaculate Heart today, we are called to look at the ideal of what should live within our own hearts and what should flow forth from them.
The perfection of all virtue is what must ideally flow from every human heart throughout time. And it is the heart of our Blessed Mother that will teach us how to internalize those virtues to become an instrument of the love of God to others.
Reflect, today, upon the spiritual perfection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Perfection is difficult to comprehend in our fallen state. But the more we look to the ideal, the more we will desire that ideal. And the more we desire that ideal, the more we will obtain it. Allow yourself today to ponder the ideal heart as it resided in the Mother of God and ask for her to intercede for you so that you will more fully imitate her.
Most Immaculate Heart of Mother Mary, you reveal to us the perfect way to love your Son and to be devoted to Him. Fill me with the love you had for your Son by interceding for me. Thank you for the witness you gave to us all and help us to imitate the countless virtues that flowed from your heart. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Jesus, I trust in You.