Meditations for the Feast and Octave: of the Holy Heart of Mary: The Vigil of the Feast (1): Of the Holy Heart of Mary

of the Holy Heart of Mary

The Vigil of the Feast

Preparation for the Feast

The First Disposition for the Feast of the

Holy Heart of Mary is Humility

LET us bear in mind that all the feasts celebrated in the Church are fountains of grace, especially those of Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. But among the feasts of our Lady that of her admirable Heart is the essence and queen of all, for the heart is the seat of love and charity, the queen of all virtues and the source of every grace. This solemnity is a veritable ocean of graces and blessings which are most valued by Our Saviour, having been acquired at the cost of His Pre (1).The two series of meditations on the Holy Heart of Mary are found in the eleventh book of St. John Eudes's work, The Admirable Heart of Mary. The first series is made up of nine meditations for the Feast of the Holy Heart of Mary and for the Octave of the Feast. The second series dealing with the perfections of the Heart of Mary may be used on any occasion for private devotion or community meditation. These beautiful meditations contain an excellent summary of St. John Eudes's doctrine of the devotion to the Holy Heart of Mary.

cious Blood and countless torments. For this reason Our Lord desires that we, too, should have a great esteem and singular veneration for these graces, and, consequently, that we should prepare, with much care and diligence, to receive the gifts He wishes to bestow on this great solemnity, to enable us to celebrate it worthily.

For this end there are three things to be done. First, we must humble ourselves profoundly, recognizing that we are most unworthy to participate in such a wonderful solemnity, which being the feast of a heart totally on fire with divine love, belongs rather to the Seraphim than to sinful souls such as we are, and in our position as sinners we cannot, humble ourselves too deeply.

Then, again, we are deeply unworthy to share in the graces and blessings of this feast an account of our inadequate and faulty use of the graces God has already showered upon us, and by the obstacles we have put in the way of those He would have given us, had we not prevented Him. Let us humble ourselves most profoundly before God at the sight of these defects, which are only too true.

The Second Disposition is Purity of Conscience

The second thing to be done in preparation for the Feast of the Holy Heart of Mary is to excite a lively desire to celebrate it with appropriate devotion, divesting ourselves of all that is displeasing to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother. For this end, let us carefully and seriously examine our failings, in thought, word, deed and affection, also the misuse we have made of the powers of our soul, and our interior and exterior senses, in order to humble ourselves, beg God's pardon for our offenses, confess them faithfully and correct them in our lives.

The Third Disposition is Union with the Angels, Saints

And the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity

In order to celebrate worthily the feast of the Heart of the Mother of Fair Love, it is little o r rather, it is nothing, if we employ only the

affections of our own hearts; so, as far as possible, we must make use of the complete treasures of love in heaven and on earth. The Holy Spirit, speaking by the lips of St. Paul, assures us that all things are ours (I Cor3, 22), our Heavenly Father having given us all in giving us His Son. "How hath he not also, with him, given us all things?" (Rom. 8, 32). We have the right to employ all hearts as our own in celebrating the praises of our heavenly Mother.

Very particularly should we ask our good angels and all the other choirs of heavenly spirits - - -especially the Seraphim- also the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, all holy priests and levites, and those saints who belong in a special way to the Heart of the Queen of Heaven, to unite our love with theirs, to make us sharers in their devotion to their glorious Queen, and do their utmost to help us to celebrate this rich solemnity worthily, as far as poor, weak human nature is capable of doing so.

Above all, let us offer our hearts, our bodies, our souls, our whole existence, to the infinite love of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost for the spotless Mother of our Saviour, begging Them to associate us in their divine love, and to prepare us to celebrate this feast in the way most pleasing to the Most Holy Trinity.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"My heart is ready, 0 God, my heart is ready." Paratum cor meum, Deus, paratum cor meum (Ps. 107, 2). 234-

The Feast of the Holy Heart of Mary

Excellence of the Holy Heart of Mary

LET us concentrate on the subject of this feast. It is the Immaculate Heart of the Queen of Heaven and earth, the sovereign empress of the universe; it is the Heart of the only and beloved daughter of the Eternal Father, the Heart of the Mother of God, the Heart of the Spouse of the Holy Ghost; it is the Heart of the most dear Mother of all the faithful; a Heart the most worthy, noble, august, and generous, the most magnificent and charitable, the most lovable, most loved and most loving heart of all pure creatures; a heart on fire with love of God, inflamed with ardent charity towards us, deserving as many feasts as it has made acts of love and charity. Unite to it, also, the Divine Heart of Jesus~ whose heart was one with His dearest Mother, through unity of spirit, affection and will. Add to these the love of all the saints and angels, who are so closely united in thought and affection with Jesus and Mary.

Such is the subject of this great and admirable feast, which is worthy of boundless veneration and praise. Be eager to celebrate it with all possible devotion.

The Eternal Father Gave Us the Holy Heart of Mary

We should regard this feast as a day of extraordinary joy for ourselves, the Heart of our heavenly Mother being ours on four accounts,

being given to us by the Eternal Father, by the Son of God, by the Holy Ghost, and by our Lady herself, therefore, the love of the Heart of Jesus and that of the saints and angels are ours also, being all united and one in the fire of charity.

What a treasure, and what happiness for us to possess such riches! How great should be our joy and delight! 0, Dear Jesus, what return shall I make for the innumerable and tremendous favors I am constantly receiving from Thy holy Mother? I offer Thee my heart, which belongs to Thee~ but what is it to offer Thee the love of one so worthless? I offer Thee the hearts of all Thy angels and saints, but this again is inadequate in comparison with the immense treasure Thou hast given me i n the Heart of Thy Blessed Mother.

I offer Thee her pure Heart, which is more pleasing to Thee than all the hearts in the universe; but even that offering is not enough to fulfill my obligations entirely. I offer Thee Thine own Adorable Heart, which is all on fire with infinite and boundless love for Thyself and Thy Eternal Father. 0 Mary, Queen of my heart, I offer thee likewise, the Sacred Heart of thy Divine Son, so lovable and overflowing with love, in thanksgiving for the inestimable treasures thou hast given me in thine own maternal Heart.

Gratitude to Jesus and Mary for This

Precious Gift

How would we feel if a great monarch opened his vaults, all filled with money and precious stones, giving us permission to take as much as we wanted?

This favor would be nothing in comparison with the indescribably rich gift the King of kings has bestowed in giving us the most lovable Heart of His glorious Mother.

If our Holy Father the Pope allowed us to have the choice of the most precious relics in the city of Rome, it would undoubtedly be a very great favor, but, again, it would be slight compared with the unspeakable favor of our Lord in granting to men the treasure of the Heart of the Queen of all Saints.

If Our Lord were to take from each one of us our own heart of flesh and blood and miraculously substitute the love of a seraph, it would be wonderful indeed, but the gift He has made of the Heart of His Blessed Mother is, in comparison, more magnificently noble and more precious.

0 my Jesus, would that the hearts of all Thy creatures were employed to praise and love Thee for this incomprehensible favor I Mother of my God, Mother of Fair Love, may all the creatures i n the universe be changed into so many tongues and hearts blessing thee with constant love throughout eternity. Since thou hast given me thy most admirable Heart, do thou take complete possession of m y poor heart, to sacrifice it without reserve to the undiluted love and pure glory of Thy Divine Son.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"Infinite thanks to Jesus and Mary for their unspeakable gift." Gratias infinitas Jesu et Mariae, pro inenarrabili dono ipsorum.

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Second Day of the Octave

The Holy Heart of Mary Reflects the Adorable Love

of the Eternal Father

The Holy Heart of Mary is with the Heart of the

Eternal Father the Principle of the

Mystery of the Incarnation

WE SHOULD look upon and honor the most pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin as a living portrait and perfect image of the infinite love of the Eternal Father. The divine love of the Father of Jesus was the first cause of the Incarnation and of His Son's birth on earth, and the most pure Heart of the Mother of Jesus is its second principle. For it was the love of the Father of Mercies that moved Him to send His Son into this world to become incarnate for the salvation of men, and it was the most pure and burning love of the virginal Heart of the Mother of Grace, inflamed with charity towards God and our souls, that drew down the Eternal Son from the bosom of His Father to be born of her and thus accomplish our salvation.

Other Reasons Which Make the Holy Heart of Mary

The Image of the Heart of the Eternal Father

The holy Heart of the Blessed Virgin is the living image of the adorable love of the Eternal Father, because as the Son of God has ever dwelt and will never cease to dwell in His Father's love, so, too, He has always lived and will ever live and dwell in the Heart of His Mother. His Father's divine felicity is a paradise of delight, love and glory for Him, and His Mother's Heart as a heaven, a heaven of heavens, in

which He is, in a way, far more loved and glorified than in the empyrean sphere.

Furthermore, the Father of Mercies and the God of all consolation, in His exceedingly great and Fatherly love, gave us His Well-beloved Son at the time of His Incarnation, and gives Him to us daily in the most Blessed Sacrament. So, too, the most Blessed Mother of Mercy and Consolation, in the boundless charity of her maternal Heart, gave us her dear Jesus at His birth, and does so continually in the Holy Eucharist, because being one with Him in spirit, in love and in will, she wills all that He wills and does all that He does.

Finally, the Eternal Father Himself accomplished in the holy Heart of His beloved daughter, the glorious Virgin Mary, that which He commands all faithful souls to do when He says: "Put me as a seal upon thy heart" (Cant. 8, 6). With His own hand He has impressed on her Heart a perfect semblance of the divine qualities of His love, which consequently is a perfect image of the sanctity, wisdom, goodness, mercy, benignity, charity and all the other perfections of the infinite love of our Heavenly Father.

0 wondrous goodness of our eternal King, may all men and angels bless, love and praise Thee to all eternity, for having imprinted Thy likeness on the Heart of the Queen of my heart! 0 lovable Heart of my heavenly Mother, how I rejoice to see thee so noble, so royal, so holy, so perfect and so like unto the Creator and Sovereign Ruler of all hearts I 0 holy Mother of God, art thou not my true Mother, and am not I thy poor child, although unutterably unworthy? And should not the heart of the child resemble that of the Mother? Thou seest, nevertheless. less, how unlike mine is to thinel 0 Mother of Mercy, take pity on my misery. I offer and give thee my wretched heart, whole and entire. I beseech thee by all the goodness of thy motherly Heart completely to destroy in thy unworthy child all that is displeasing to thee, and to imprint a perfect image of the holiness reigning in the Heart of its revered Mother.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"Jesus, Fruit of the Heart of Mary, have mercy on us." Jesu, fructus cordis Mariae, miserere nobis. 239-

Third Day of the Octave

The Holy Heart of Mary Is One with the Eternal Father

and Is the Mirror of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Holy Heart of Mary is But One Heart with

The Heart of the Eternal Father

THE Holy Heart of the glorious Virgin Mary is not only a vivid likeness of the infinite love of the Eternal Father, the Father of Virgins, but is one with it, one, not in unity of nature or essence, but i n unity of spirit, with love and affection. For the Mother of Jesus never had any other spirit, will, o r affections but those of the Father of Jesus, and attained that union, or rather that unity, by three means:

I. By entire separation from all sin

2. By perfect detachment from the world, from self-love and from all created things

3. By a most ardent love for the Divine Will, and by a prompt and cordial submission and abandonment to all its designs and orders

0 dearest Mother, I rejoice unspeakably to see thy blessed Heart thus united and conformed to the adorable will of our Heavenly Father, and render Him infinite thanks for this exalted union. To thee, my great and powerful Queen, I offer my heart. Cause it to share thy boundless hatred of sin; sever the bonds and break the chains that bind this poor slave; detach me entirely from the world, from self-will and from all that is displeasing to God. Consecrate me to His divine will, praying that it may be established in my heart, and reign there absolutely for ever more, so that in imitation of thee I may be one in mind, will and heart with my loving Heavenly Father.

The Holy Heart of Mary is the Mirror

Of the Heart of Jesus

The Heart of the Mother of our Divine Saviour is a beautiful mirror in which her Beloved Son has depicted, reflected and represented most excellently, all the virtues that reign in His Sacred Heart. They who see the Heart of the Queen of Angels, as the angels do, find therein a vivid and perfect reproduction of the love, charity, humility, obedience, patience, purity, contempt of the world, hatred of sin and all the other virtues of the most adorable Heart of Jesus. From the very depths of our own heart, then, let us return Him fitting thanks, and offer it to our Blessed Lady, earnestly begging her to obtain for us the grace that, as her Heart is a living portrait of the Sacred Heart of her Son Jesus, ours may be in like manner an image of hers.

Let us, on our part, cultivate a great desire to behold that virginal heart, on which, as on a beautiful mirror, we should often fix our eyes that we may see the stains on our soul, in order to efface them and engrave on our heart by earnest imitation all the virtues which shine forth in the peerless Heart of our heavenly Mother, especially humility, obedience and charity; for all the happiness, perfection and glory of our hearts consist in so living that we may be vivid reproductions of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The Holy Heart of Mary is But One Heart with

The Heart of Jesus

Although the Heart of Jesus is distinct from that of Mary, and infinitely surpasses it i n excellence and holiness, nevertheless, God has so closely united these two Hearts that we may say with truth that they are but one, because they have always been animated with the same spirit and filled with the same sentiments and affections. If St. Bernard could say he had but one heart with Jesus: "Bene mihi est, cor unum cum Jesu habeo," and if it was said of the first Christians that

they had but one heart and one soul, so great was the union amongst them, how much more can we say that Jesus and Mary had but one heart and one soul, considering how closely they were bound together by the perfect conformity of mind, will and sentiment that existed between the Divine Son of God and His Immaculate Mother.

Add to this that Jesus so lives and reigns in Mary that He is the Soul of her soul, the Spirit of her spirit, the Heart of her heart; so much so that we might well say that Jesus is enshrined in the Heart of Mary so completely that in honoring and glorifying her Heart, we honor and glorify Jesus Christ Himself.

0 Jesus, living in the Heart of Mary I be the life of my heart. Mary, Mother of Jesus, obtain by thy intercession, I beseech thee, that I may have but one heart with thy Beloved Son and thyself.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"Who will grant me that my heart may be one for ever with the Heart of Jesus and Mary?" Quis dabit mihi ut cor meum, cum Corde Jesu et Mariae cor unum fiat in aeternum?

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Fourth Day of the Octave

Reasons Inspiring Us to Honor the Holy Heart of Mary

The Holy Heart of Mary Is, After the Heart of Jesus,

The Most Exalted Throne of Divine Love

LET us~recollect that God has given us the feast of the most pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin so that we may render on that day all the respect, honor and praise that we possibly can. To enkindle this spirit within us let us consider our motivating obligations.

The first is that we ought to love and honor whatever God loves and honors, and that by which He is loved and glorified. Now, after the adorable Heart of Jesus there has never been either in heaven or on earth, nor ever will be, a heart which has been so loved and honored by God, or which has given Him so much glory as that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Never has there been, nor will there ever be a more exalted throne of divine love. In that Heart divine love possesses its fullest empire, for it ever reigns without hindrance or interruption, and with it reign likewise all the laws of God, all the Gospel maxims and every Christian virtue.

This incomparable Heart of the Mother of our Redeemer is a glorious heaven, a Paradise of delights for the Most Holy Trinity. According to St. Paul, the hearts of the faithful are the dwellingplace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself assures us that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost take up Their abode in the hearts of those who love God. Who, therefore, can doubt that the Most Holy Trinity has always made His home and established the reign of His glory in an admirable and ineffable manner in the virginal Heart of her who is the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, the Spouse of

the Holy Ghost, who herself loves God more than all other creatures together?

How much then are we not obliged to love this exalted and most lovable Heart?