The Solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Today is a very special day for me and my husband. It was on this feast day (celebrated on June 27 that year) 15 years ago that Bill and I exchanged vows in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony, which makes this feast very memorable for me. Throughout the history of this devotion different titles have been used for the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Mother such as "the Maternal Heart of Mary" and also the "Sacred Heart of Mary." Sacred means holy, it does not mean divine. St. John Eudes (d. 1680) wrote of "the Admirable Heart of Mary." In St. Luke (2:51) we read of Our Lady pondering all these things—about Her Son Jesus—in her Heart. Also from St. Luke (2:35) we see that Simeon at the Presentation prophesied that Our Lady’s Soul would be pierced with sorrow. This is depicted by showing a sword piercing the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The early theologians of our Faith, the Fathers of the Church, such as St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) and St. Epiphanus (d. 403) ref...