Saturday, June 25, 2022

Immaculate Heart of Mary


The WORD today reminds me that I should strive to have a heart like Mary. 

Yesterday, we see and remember how much God loves us. We celebrated the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The heart that loves us. The heart that saves us. The heart that continues to love us despite our sins, despite us always hurting God. Today, we see an example of how we should love him back, through a human being in Mama Mary. 

The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary should inspire us. Mary was conceived without original sin. Immaculate conception. She was spared from original sin, and was spared from sin her entire life. God’s blessings, protection and graces were really strong in her. Thus, the angel’s greeting of Mary, full of grace is literally true. And it is believed that her state is because of her heart. Her heart was pure. Her heart was burning for God and for Jesus. Her Immaculate Heart wants to love and serve God, and wants to bring souls to Him. 

We see a glimpse of Mary’s heart in the gospel. 

Even if she did not understand what Jesus meant, she still followed God. She still loved Him and served Him. Probably she did not get the answer she was expecting, but she was not proud and complaining. We did not see her complain and say “You sent the angel and asked me to be Jesus’ mother, now I do not understand what he is saying?!” Instead, we see Mary as a humble and obedient servant, keeping things in her heart when she did not understand. Mary continued to care for and love Jesus. Mary continued to be there supporting him, in whatever he was doing, until his death on the cross. That is how much Mary loved Jesus. That is how we should love him as well. 

How do we react when we do not understand God’s plans? Do we humbly accept his plan, having faith that his plan is the best, or do we complain and insist he conform to what we want? When we do not get what we pray for or what we ask, how do we react? Are we angry at God, or do we keep the faith, continuously serving him despite of everything? Do I feel God’s love in my life? How do I respond and give it back to him? to others? How can I love God like Mama Mary did?

May we find in Mama Mary an example of how to love God back, and be inspired to love him the way she did. 

Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another weekend. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for always going down to my level and reaching out to me. Sorry for the times I ignore you. Sorry for the times I do not show my love for you. Sorry for choosing to love myself more than I love you. Sorry for sinning and for hurting you. Lord, I ask that you help me love you like Mama Mary. Make my heart similar to hers. You know I love you. Help me show it. Help me live it. May I always surrender to your will and may I always be a humble servant loving you… always. Amen.

Blessed Weekend!

In Christ,
-g-



Daily Readings

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lectionary: 376/573

The Lord has consumed without pity
all the dwellings of Jacob;
He has torn down in his anger
the fortresses of daughter Judah;
He has brought to the ground in dishonor
her king and her princes.

On the ground in silence sit
the old men of daughter Zion;
They strew dust on their heads
and gird themselves with sackcloth;
The maidens of Jerusalem
bow their heads to the ground.

Worn out from weeping are my eyes,
within me all is in ferment;
My gall is poured out on the ground
because of the downfall of the daughter of my people,
As child and infant faint away
in the open spaces of the town.

In vain they ask their mothers,
“Where is the grain?”
As they faint away like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
And breathe their last
in their mothers’ arms.

To what can I liken or compare you,
O daughter Jerusalem?
What example can I show you for your comfort,
virgin daughter Zion?
For great as the sea is your downfall;
who can heal you?

Your prophets had for you
false and specious visions;
They did not lay bare your guilt,
to avert your fate;
They beheld for you in vision
false and misleading portents.

Cry out to the Lord;
moan, O daughter Zion!
Let your tears flow like a torrent
day and night;
Let there be no respite for you,
no repose for your eyes.

Rise up, shrill in the night,
at the beginning of every watch;
Pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord;
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your little ones
Who faint from hunger
at the corner of every street.

 

Responsorial Psalm

R. (19b) Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your flock which you built up of old,
the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance,
Mount Zion, where you took up your abode.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Turn your steps toward the utter ruins;
toward all the damage the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
Your foes roar triumphantly in your shrine;
they have set up their tokens of victory.
They are like men coming up with axes to a clump of trees.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
With chisel and hammer they hack at all the paneling of the sanctuary.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
the place where your name abides they have razed and profaned.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.
Look to your covenant,
for the hiding places in the land and the plains are full of violence.
May the humble not retire in confusion;
may the afflicted and the poor praise your name.
R. Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God
and pondered it in her heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
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.





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