Today is the memorial of the Immaculate heart of Mary.
Because of her willingness to put her total trust in God, despite how unbelievable it was that she would be asked to be the mother of the Messiah, Mary’s love and trust in God becomes a model for the way we should love God,for the way we should trust in God’s purpose for us.
Honouring Mary’s Immaculate Heart is our way of honouring her as being chosen
to be the Mother of God. It recognises her extraordinary holiness, called to share in and co-operate in Jesus’s redemptive sufferings. And it honours and acknowledges the immense love she bestowed on Jesus as His mother.
Today’s gospel is about the finding of Jesus in the temple. When Mary and Joseph find him, Mary says to Him: “Son, why have you done this to us?”. When Jesus answers her that He must be in his Father’s house, Mary does not just remember things; she ponders over the events and the experiences in her life. And as she ponders, as she contemplates, the mystery of God is slowly revealed to her, the will of God is slowly made known to her.
Father Efrén preached earlier this week about our need to balance our work for the Lord with our spiritual connection to God in prayer.
Because, just as it was with Mary, as we ponder, as we contemplate, the mystery of God is slowly revealed to us, the will of God is slowly made known to us.
The Jesuits call this being a “contemplative in action”. If we take time in self-reflection and discernment to look within and make sense of our experiences – We can then choose actions in life that will bring about the reign of God. A contemplative life feeds an active life,an active life feeds a contemplative life.
The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary invites us to have a contemplative heart,
To live a more contemplative life. For it is only with a contemplative heart, that we can recall our past in retrospection and see the hand of God in our personal history. For it is only with a contemplative heart that we become more aware of the presence of God in the present, and that awareness will deepen our hope and our confidence in God to journey into the future.
Communion Service, June 20, 2020