[Salvation]

 

The Immaculate Heart [of Mary]

August Devotion: The Immaculate Heart

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person: and as the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.

This devotion has received new emphasis in this century from the visions given to Lucy Dos Santos, oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Tuy, in Spain, in 1925 and 1926. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses given to her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. The practice parallels the devotion of the Nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart.

On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. Let us remember this devotion year-round, but particularly through the month of August.

INVOCATIONS

O heart most pure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, obtain for me from Jesus a pure and humble heart.

Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.

ACT OF CONSECRATION
Queen of the most holy Rosary, help of Christians, refuge of the human race, victorious in all the battles of God, we prostrate ourselves in supplication before thy throne, in the sure hope of obtaining mercy and of receiving grace and timely aid in our present calamities, not through any merits of our own, on which we do not rely, but only through the immense goodness of thy mother's heart. In thee and in thy Immaculate Heart, at this grave hour of human history, do we put our trust; to thee we consecrate ourselves, not only with all of Holy Church, which is the mystical body of thy Son Jesus, and which is suffering in so many of her members, being subjected to manifold tribulations and persecutions, but also with the whole world, torn by discords, agitated with hatred, the victim of its own iniquities. Be thou moved by the sight of such material and moral degradation, such sorrows, such anguish, so many tormented souls in danger of eternal loss! Do thou, O Mother of mercy, obtain for us from God a Christ-like reconciliation of the nations, as well as those graces which can convert the souls of men in an instant, those graces which prepare the way and make certain the long desired coming of peace on earth. O Queen of peace, pray for us, and grant peace unto the world in the truth, the justice, and the charity of Christ.

Above all, give us peace in our hearts, so that the kingdom of God may spread its borders in the tranquillity of order. Accord thy protection to unbelievers and to all those who lie within the shadow of death; cause the Sun of Truth to rise upon them; may they be enabled to join with us in repeating before the Savior of the world: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."

Give peace to the nations that are separated from us by error or discord, and in a special manner to those peoples who profess a singular devotion toward thee; bring them back to Christ's one fold, under the one true Shepherd. Obtain full freedom for the holy Church of God; defend her from her enemies; check the ever-increasing torrent of immorality; arouse in the faithful a love of purity, a practical Christian life, and an apostolic zeal, so that the multitude of those who serve God may increase in merit and in number.

Finally, even as the Church and all mankind were once consecrated to the Heart of thy Son Jesus, because He was for all those who put their hope in Him an inexhaustible source of victory and salvation, so in like manner do we consecrate ourselves forever to thee also and to thy Immaculate Heart, O Mother of us and Queen of the world; may thy love and patronage hasten the day when the kingdom of God shall be victorious and all the nations, at peace with God .and with one another, shall call thee blessed and intone with thee, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the everlasting "Magnificat" of glory, of love, of gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, in which alone we can find truth, life, and peace. — Pope Pius XII

IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE HEART
O heart of Mary, mother of God, and our mother; heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the angels and of all men; heart most like to the Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; heart, full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Savior. Pour into them the love of thy virtues, enkindle in them that divine fire with which thou thyself dost ever burn. In thee let Holy Church find a safe shelter; protect her and be her dearest refuge, her tower of strength, impregnable against every assault of her enemies. Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel, through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation. Be our refuge in time of trouble, our solace in the midst of trial, our strength against temptation, our haven in persecution, our present help in every danger, and especially) at the hour of death, when all hell shall let loose against u its legions to snatch away our souls, at that dread moment; that hour so full of fear, whereon our eternity depends. An,; then most tender virgin, make us to feel the sweetness of thy motherly heart, and the might of thine intercession with Jesus, and open to us a safe refuge in that very fountain of mercy, whence we may come to praise Him with thee in paradise, world without end. Amen.

Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954

Sacred Heart Of Jesus

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Blessed be the Most Loving Heart and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the most glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, in eternity and forever. Amen. ....Only the Heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way ----From the Catechism. P:1439 From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power. Amen. - - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps.-- >From the Catechism. P: 2669 The Salutation to the Heart of Jesus and Mary   An Offering of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary
Novena Prayer to Sacred Heart  of Jesus Prayer to the Wounded Heart of Jesus   Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart   Meditation & Novena Prayer on the Sacred Heart Beads to the Sacred Heart		Novena Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary   A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary   The Daily Offering to the  Immaculate Heart of Mary   Exaltation of the Immaculate  Heart of Mary   Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

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 dwelling place 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?

— St. John Eudes

The History of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Catholic Caucus)

Homilies preached by Father Robert Altier on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Marian Associations Unite to Celebrate Immaculate Heart

Solemnity Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary

FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, AUGUST 22ND

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

[Salvation]

From: Isaiah 66:18-21

The nations in pilgrimage to Jerusalem

---

[18] For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all
nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, [19] and I will
set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to
Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands
afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my
glory among the nations. [20] And they shall bring all your brethren from all the
nations as an offering to the Lord, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and
upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the
Lord, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house
of the Lord. [21] And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites,
says the Lord.

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Commentary:

66:18-24. The book ends with a colophon, part in prose (vv. 18-21), part in
verse (vv. 22-24). It begins by announcing that the glory of the Lord will be pro-
claimed to the nations, and they will respond by flocking in pilgrimage to the
temple of the Lord.

Verses 18-21 are a sort of parallel to 2:2-4: both passages act as a kind of
marker, one for the beginning and one for the end of the book. In other words,
the exile in Babylon will come to be seen as divine punishment inflicted on the
people for their sins, for their breaking the Covenant. There may be an oblique
reference here to the expulsion of our first parents from the garden of Eden (Gen
1:23): Israel, too, was expelled from its land and from Zion, “the house of Jacob”
(2:6). But God, in his mercy towards his people, will pardon them and have them
come back to his “holy mountain”, Jerusalem (v. 20), and his gathering will also
involve “all nations and tongues” (v. 18). This return to Zion is a sign that their
transgression is totally forgiven. In some ways, the book of Isaiah is an (imper-
fect) anticipation and account of salvation history which runs right through the
Bible, from the expulsion from Paradise (Gen 3:23), to the vision of the “heavenly
Jerusalem”, in the “new heavens and the new earth” (v. 22 and Rev 21:1-27), at
the centre of which will be found the “tree of life” (Rev 22:14).

Theodoret of Cyrus reads these words as an announcement of the universal
salvation that stems from the Incarnation, and he comments that the prophet
showed that Christ became “a slave not only to redeem the Jews but to bring
salvation to all the nations” (Commentaria in Isaiam, 66, 18). The Second Letter
to the Corinthians attributed to St Clement of Rome also sees v. 18 as an
announcement of the Second Coming of our Lord: “I am coming to gather all
nations and tongues: this verse prophesies the last day, when Christ will come
again to reward each man according to his deeds” (Pseudo-Clement, Epistula II
and Corinthios, 17, 4).

The nations mentioned in v. 19 are not easy to identify; but Tarshish is probably
Spain; Put, Libya; Lud, Lydia; Tubal, Cilicia; and Javan, Ionia, Greece.

“And some of them also I will take for priests” (v. 21): this may mean (though one
cannot be sure) that God will choose priests and Levites from among the pagans.
Given the tenor of v. 22, it is more likely that “descendants” of Israel will hold the
office of the holy priesthood; either interpretation fits in with the general newness
and universalism that are a feature of chapters 65 and 66 (cf. 61:6).

The last oracle in the book of Isaiah is a call to an active, living hope (vv. 22-24).
Verse 23, in its initial historical context, was addressed to the chosen people of
the Old Testament, but it opens out to include all mankind; that is how the Fathers
interpreted it. “There will be a new heaven and a new earth, where man will live
forever united with God. Isaiah tells us that this new life will last forever: For as
the new heavens and the new earth which I shall make shall remain before me,
says the Lord; so shall your descendants and your name remain (Is 66:22)” (St
Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus haereses, 5, 36, 1).

Even so, a warning is issued about the punishment that awaits evildoers (v. 24).
The harshness of the language here is in sharp contrast to the general tone of
hope. The prophet may have chosen to strike this dark note in order to have the
inhabitants of Zion (the saved) recognize God’s sovereignty over those who
reject him and have them appreciate the blessings bestowed in Zion, that is, in
heaven. Jesus uses the metaphor of the worm that does not die to describe the
punishment earned by the grave sin of scandal (cf. Mk 9:48).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.