HEARTS OF FIRE AND LOVE
The blood and water have always been seen by Roman Catholics to mystically symbolize and effect the origin and the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. It was at the piercing of Christ's Heart in death that Mary's Heart was pierced in spirit, thus fulfilling Luke 2:35 (cf. above), and exemplifying the profound mystical union of the Heart of Jesus with the Heart of Mary in the work of our redemption. This union began when by the power of the Holy Spirit Mary conceived the Heart of Jesus beneath Her own Heart. It is consummated when at one and the same time these Two Hearts are immolated for our salvation. And now in heaven it continues forever as the sole source of mankind's salvation and sanctification.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Sacred Heart of Jesus represents Christ's divine love for us. A human element of who Jesus is. The devotion especially emphasizes the compassion and long-suffering of the heart of Christ towards humanity. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not only radiant with love for us, but it is a wounded heart, encircled by thorns, and pierced—the heart we tried to kill, a love we tried to extinguish.
The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was first celebrated on August 31, 1670 in France. Celebration of the feast spread but it took the visions of St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque (1647-1690) for it to become universal. From the time she was twenty, she experienced visions of Christ, and on December 27, 1673, she began a series of revelations that were to continue over the next year and a half. In them Christ informed her that she was his chosen instrument to spread devotion to his Sacred Heart.
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary focuses on Mary’s love for God, her maternal love for her son, Jesus, and encourages us to imitate her humility, gratitude, obedience, and adoration. The roses surrounding Mary’s heart represent her sinlessness and purity, sweetness, and new life. The sword piercing the top of the heart represents her redemptive suffering as a “spiritual crucifixion.”
As far back as the thirteenth century, devotions to the Heart of Mary were popular. In the midst of WWII, Pope Pius X11 put the whole world under the special protection of our Savior’s mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart. In 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary as we know it today.
Liturgy for the Feasts of Sacred Heart of Jesus & Immaculate Heart of Mary.
No comments:
Post a Comment