Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you peace. The Church invites us today to contemplate the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that most pure, most loving, and most faithful heart in all of creation—a heart that beats in perfect harmony with the will of God. In the Gospel today, we are given a tender and profound image of Mary’s inner life: “His mother kept all these things in her heart.” This short verse opens to us a mystery: Mary's heart was not only the physical organ that gave life to Jesus within her womb; it became the sacred dwelling where the mysteries of salvation were received, pondered, and treasured.
From the moment of her Immaculate Conception, Mary was preserved from original sin. Her heart was never turned away from God by pride or rebellion. It was wholly directed toward the Lord—ready to rejoice, to trust, and to suffer—all in faithfulness. The first reading from Isaiah proclaims: “I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul.” These words, though spoken through the prophet, seem to echo in Mary’s own Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” Her Immaculate Heart is the wellspring of that rejoicing, for it is a heart perfectly attuned to God's justice, mercy, and plan.
We see, however, that Mary’s joy is not without sorrow. In today’s Gospel, we find her in distress, searching anxiously for her Son. And yet, even in confusion, even in fear, her response is not one of anger or reproach. It is that of a loving mother who seeks understanding—and then keeps all these things in her heart. Mary’s Immaculate Heart is not a heart free from pain, but one that responds to suffering with trust and silence, not bitterness or complaint. As Saint John Paul II once said, “The heart of the Mother is the memory of a Church which preserves the truth of God in a human heart.”
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us: “Look at the star, call upon Mary. In danger, in distress, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary.” Why? Because her heart knows. Her heart knows what it is to suffer in silence, to search in sorrow, to wait in hope, to rejoice in God's triumph. She is not a distant figure, but a mother who walks with us. She is our model, yes, but more deeply, she is our companion in the spiritual life.
Saint John Eudes, great apostle of the Immaculate Heart, once said: “The most admirable Heart of Mary is the perfect image of the Heart of Jesus.” Indeed, what we venerate today is not limited to our Blessed Mother, for her Immaculate Heart is a reflection of Christ's own Heart. Her heart is the mirror that reveals His love, His mercy, His obedience, His mission. And just as Jesus gave us His Sacred Heart as a source of grace, He has given us Mary’s Immaculate Heart as a refuge.
In times of trial, in moments of confusion—whether in our own personal lives or in a world shadowed by violence, injustice, and division—we are invited to turn to this Heart. It is the heart that said "yes" at the Annunciation, that stood at the foot of the Cross, that rejoiced in the Resurrection. It is the heart that intercedes for us even now.
Dear friends, let us ask ourselves today: Do I ponder God’s will in my heart as Mary did? Do I trust God when I do not understand His ways? Do I love Jesus with a heart that is undivided, like hers? Let us entrust ourselves and our families to her Immaculate Heart. As Pope Pius XII declared when he consecrated the world to her Heart during the horrors of war: “In the midst of the trials of the present time, may the Immaculate Heart of Mary triumph, so that the peace of Christ may reign in the world.”
May her Immaculate Heart, united always with the Sacred Heart of her Son, guard and guide us, and bring us ever closer to God.
Amen.
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