The Hearts of Jesus and Mary

THIS year, many liturgical celebrations have been celebrated earlier than usual—beginning with the Holy Week, the Easter Triduum and continuing on with the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
For many that have been used in having the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart in the month of June, it became May 30 this year. And to confound us even further, there is no Memorial of the Immaculate Heart this year since it fell on May 31 which is the Feast of the Visitation.
The Biblical Roots of the "Heart"

In biblical language the heart is the vital center for life that is specifically human: sense life, the life of the will and intellectual life. For this reason the figurative use of the word is vaster in the Bible than in modern languages. The Bible speaks for instance of thoughts that arise from the heart, of the perverse designs that proceed from the heart, to open the heart of someone in understanding, or to apply the heart, that is attention and will, to something. God scrutinizes the heart, that is, He knows the most intimate movements of a person and his most secret intentions. (The New World Dictionary Concordance to the New American Bible)

Let me also quote here an article of Rev. Matthew R. Mauriello:
Devotion to the immaculate Heart of Mary is primarily based upon the Sacred Scriptures. In the New Testament, there are two references to the Heart of Mary in the Gospel according to St. Luke: ..."Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” (Lk. 2: 19) and "His mother meanwhile kept all these things in her heart.” (Lk 2:51) In the Old Testament, the heart is seen as the symbol of the depths of the human soul, the center of its choices and commitments. For all mankind, it is a symbol of love. In the Book of Deuteronomy we are told, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Dt. 6:5) When Our Lord Jesus Christ was asked by the scribes, which was the first commandment, he answered them by quoting this verse to them. (see Mk. 12:29-31)

It was the Heart of Mary which expressed her "yes” to God…This was her response to the message sent through the angel at the Annunciation. By her loving consent, Mary first conceived Christ in her heart and then in her womb. Our Lord Jesus, Himself: when reminded by a woman in the crowd how blessed was the womb which gave birth to Him, responds, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (Lk. 11:28) Pope John Paul II, in his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis, wrote "the mystery of Redemption was formed under the heart of the Virgin of Nazareth when she pronounced her 'fiat.’” (R.H. #22)

Historically, devotion to the Heart of Mary can be traced to the twelfth century with such writers as St. Anselm (d. 1109) and St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) who is considered as one of the most influential writers in Marian devotion. St. Bernardine of Siena (1380- 1444) has been called the Doctor of the Heart of Mary due to his writings on Mary's heart. He wrote, "from her heart, as from a furnace of Divine Love, the Blessed Virgin spoke the words of the most ardent love.”

St. John Eudes (1601-1680) helped by his writings to begin a renewal in this devotion. Both Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X called him, "the father, Doctor, and Apostle of the liturgical cult of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.” Even two decades before the first liturgical celebrations in honor of the Heart of Jesus, St. John Eudes and his followers observed February 8th as the feast of the Heart of Mary as early as 1643. Pope Pius VII (d. 1823) extended its celebration to any diocese or congregation requesting it.

Devotion to Mary’s Heart has a greater flowering following the manifestation of the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830 and the Appearances of' Our Lady in Fatima. From May 13 to October 13, 1917, our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to three children, Jacinta and Francisco Marto and their cousin Lucia DosSantos in Fatima, Portugal. On July 13 she told them: "to save poor sinners, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.” The entire Fatima message is one of prayer, penance and making sacrifices and reparation to God for the many offenses against Him.
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n 1942, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Fatima, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That same year, he assigned the feast day to August 22, the octave of the Assumption. On May 4, 1944, he extended the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Universal Church. With the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council in 1969, the feast was given a more suitable place on the day following the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That is the Saturday after the second Sunday after Pentecost.
The Consecration to the Immaculate Heart

Following most specially after the apparitions at Fatima, and the very deep and personal Marian devotion of the Great John Paul II, our contemporary time is a witness to this devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. One cannot but think as well of the bronze image of Our Lady and her Immaculate Heart at EDSA in Manila. One year before the EDSA Revolution of 1986, we had our Marian Year with that profound campaign of individual and national consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

St. Louis Marie Grignon di Montfort can be considered as the prime proponent of this Total Consecration to Mary. Although he did not mention specifically the term, Immaculate Heart of Mary, it was he who devote his lifetime explaining and expounding on the theology of Consecration to Mary.

And because Mary is the one who exemplifies the Perfect Consecration to Christ, our total Consecration to Mary would mean Perfect Consecration to Christ Himself. In effect, therefore, being Consecrated to Mary means being Consecrated to Christ.

Totus tuus ego sum Maria et omnia mea tua sunt. I am totally yours O Mary and all that I have is yours.

Ave Maria! Ad Jesum per Maria