Sweet Heart of Jesus, Be My Love

What is the Heart of Jesus?  What can we focus on when we meditate on the Sacred Heart?  We celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus today, and perhaps we aren't quite sure what we are celebrating.  As I was praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart this morning, I noticed that one of the petitions is "Heart of Jesus, House of God and Gate of Heaven, Have mercy on us."  (emphasis added)  What struck me in particular was that last title - Gate of Heaven, a title also given to Our Blessed Mother.  If the Heart of Jesus and Our Lady are both the Gate of Heaven, it would seem that Our Lady is the Heart of Jesus.  It is often the case that a mother is the heart of her son.  I believe it would be so to an even greater degree with this Mother and Son.  Their hearts are so closely united that to see one is to see the other.  In the prophecy of Simeon, when he foretold Jesus' crucifixion, he also predicted that "a sword shall pierce [her] heart, too."  In some depictions of the crucifixion scene or of Our Lady holding the body of Jesus after he is taken down from the cross, Our Lady appears gray and sallow as if she, too, is dead.  When the soldier pierced the Heart of Jesus, the spear also went straight through Our Lady as she shared mystically in the death of her Son.    

It can often be difficult for us to approach the Throne of Grace when we know we have strayed, but Our Lady has long been a refuge for sinners.  It is she we run to to plead for mercy on our behalf.  She has a singular position in interceding for us, and because of His great love for her, she is able to hold back the hand of justice.  What hit me is that in running to Our Lady, we run straight to the Heart of Jesus.  Our Lady and Marian Consecration can be a stumbling block for many.  It can be difficult to see why we should run to Mary and not straight to Jesus, but when we run to Mary we are running straight to Jesus.  In fact, straight into His Heart.  That Heart that literally exploded because of the intense love and sorrow that enveloped it at the crucifixion.  That Heart that loved us so much that He would actually come to the earth so that we could spend eternity together.  That Heart that loved the young virgin, Mary, so much that He preserved her from all stain of sin and elevated her higher than the Angels because of her constant docility to His will.  It's because of her that His plan was brought to fulfillment.  If anyone has and is the Heart of Jesus, it's His Mother.  The one who gave Him a Heart of flesh.  

It is appropriate that the Mother should be the Heart because of the lifegiving role she represents.  From the Heart of Jesus flows streams of living water.  Water that nourishes, refreshes, redeems, sustains us and gives us eternal life.  Mothers nourish and sustain and give life to their children.  If Mary is the Heart of Jesus, would it not be appropriate that life and breath and living water should flow from His Heart?  That His Heart would be a refuge for us, especially when we have fallen or strayed?  To love Our Blessed Mother is to love Jesus.  Her life was never about her.  Devotion to Our Blessed Mother is never about her.  Depictions of Our Blessed Mother are never about her.  They are about the Giver of Life that she carried and bore.  Where it is difficult for us to understand His mercy, she is a tangible representation to us of the mercy and love and life to be found in the Heart of Jesus.  

My prayer for all us on this blessed Solemnity is that we would find peace and refuge in the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, made Sweet because of the Mother that we share.  Tomorrow is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Let us remember in every moment of our lives to run to Our Lady, to the Sweet Heart of Jesus.  

Written by Catherine