13th Sunday after Pentecost
Commemoration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
22 August 2021, Canton, SD
Gal 3:16-22
Luke 17:11-19
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Our Sunday Mass today takes place against the backdrop of a very
beautiful teaching about our Blessed Mother, as today we commemorate the feast
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
There is much that we can gain
in life from focusing on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and on the Immaculate Heart
of Mary. Above all, our appreciation can grow of what is meant not only by
Christ’s love, but also concerning what is at the heart or center of the
Christian life, especially as we contemplate the mystery of the Heart of Mary. Today,
primarily, I want to attempt a reflection on your hearts, our hearts, on the
heart of any believing and practicing Catholic, as the center of gravity in
Catholicism and of our life as Catholics. The Blessed Virgin Mary, with her
Immaculate Heart, is an incomparable witness to aid us in our reflection.
“Heart language” personalizes
our discussion of the faith and of Church life. It takes the practice of the
faith off the institutional plain and takes it where it should be, namely to
where it is alive and thriving at the center of people’s lives. As St. Paul
explains to the Galatians in today’s epistle: the law is at the service of
God’s promise, of the covenant God made with Abraham. St. Paul speaks of the promise
to the offspring (singular), Who is Christ. The promise made by God to Abraham
looks to Jesus, the Messiah. He is what makes sense of the Old Covenant. Christ
is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. To use “heart language” is to go
about this reflection as Christ wills and as St. Paul teaches. We might rightly
quote St. Augustine and say, “Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in
you!” (Think of the many images of the great saint with a flaming heart in his
hand or somewhere in the picture.
Talking this way about the
heart, especially about the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, I am telling you
something more than what I was taught in seminary. Back then, at some point we
were taught that the value of focusing on the Heart of Jesus or on the Heart of
Mary is literary or poetic. It is a case of the use of the classical literary figure
named synecdoche, that is, taking a part for the whole, as in “My heart
aches for you!” Do not misunderstand me. The notion I was taught in the
seminary is not wrong, as we can understand from the traditional artworks which
depict the hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It is clear in the artwork,
however, that a part stands for the whole mystery of Christ’s love, of the love
of the Virgin, and of the love of St. Joseph. “Heart language” has multiple
implications. There is more to be considered than just the
literary figure and the love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for me personally, as
important as it is. The spectrum of what we are talking about here as love of
the heart is very expansive.
Let me limit myself to reflecting
upon what that “more” means in terms of our placing ourselves
under the Kingship of Christ. No doubt many of you have read the same articles
on the internet I have, which bemoan the loss of a sense of Christ’s Kingship
in the Church and in our world. There is a lot to that lament, but an essential part of what is lacking in the Church and the
world, or maybe let us say in the average Catholic parish, has to do with a
clear awareness of the call for us to let Christ take up His Throne in our
hearts. I better repeat that. An essential part of what is lacking in the
Church and in the world, or maybe let us say in the average Catholic parish, is
a clear awareness of the call for us to let Christ take up His Throne in our
hearts. The absolute top priority for the Church in the world is that the Lord
Jesus should reign as King. Jesus told Pontius Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of
this world”. The Kingship of Christ, His Rule, must be first and foremost in
our hearts. Jesus says as much today and illustrates His point in the Gospel
account of the healing of the ten lepers. Were not the ten made clean? But
where are the nine? Has no one been found to return and give glory to God,
except this foreigner?”
Christ rules where He is
given His due, where He is recognized as the be-all and the end-all of our
lives. Christ rules where hearts are subject to Him and His Will. Christ rules
where He is recognized for Who He truly is and loved above all else.
“Were not the ten made
clean? But where are the nine? Has no one been found to return and give glory
to God, except this foreigner?”
On Friday August 20, we
celebrated the feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, abbot, father and doctor of
the Church. He died in 1153 and is counted as the last of the Latin Fathers. He
taught that we should take heed of what we love, what we fear, wherefore we
rejoice, or why we sorrow. We must understand that where our heart lies is what
is primal. We should love God alone or love others only for God’s sake.
Here is where Mary and her
Immaculate Heart enter the picture. You and I may be somewhat conflicted in our
choices and in our preferences. We need to learn from the Mother of God and
come to appreciate her undivided Heart. Just as nothing and nobody took
preference over her Divine Son, so we need to form our hearts like hers.
To return to St. Paul and the
Galatians: the Commandments, the Precepts of the Church are there to help us to
examine our consciences well and so worthily confess our sins in the Sacrament
of Penance. These rules of life cast light on the matters of the heart which
will lead us to Christ. The Blessed Virgin Mary was thoroughly formed in the
Law, in the Commandments, but her Heart carried her farther. You and I do not
have her perfection or beauty of soul, but through our obedience to God’s
commands and uprightness of heart we can come to love God alone and to love all
creatures like ourselves only for God’s sake.
Immaculate
Heart of Mary, pray for us!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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