MARY, OUR MOTHER

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)

THE HEART OF MARY

2. Its Sanctity.
From this most perfect union between both Hearts spring the marvelous sanctity of the Heart of Mary. Sanctity consists in a participation with God, in a love which transforms the soul into God, in an elevation which makes our soul a true image and likeness of God. God fixed this aim when creating man and shaping his heart. He wanted the king of creatures to be according to His own image and likeness.

That is why a human heart reaches the perfection of being God's image, of having in itself a likeness to the heart of God, when He is able to exclaim with St. Paul, It is not I, it is Christ that lives in me. Then he has reached this perfection, he has attained sanctity.

But which heart could in this compare with that of Mary? Which heart was closer, more intimately united and more perfectly partaking in the life of God than Her's? Which heart was more totally transformed into God's? Which could claim more truly to be image and likeness of God than Her's? Where could be found a better mirror without blemish, capable of reflecting the sanctity of God more perfectly and faithfully? To which heart could those words of St. Paul, It is Christ that lives in me, more fittingly apply than to the Heart of Mary, not excluding the heart of St. Paul or of any other saint?

If you pause to consider each of the most important perfections of God and you apply each to our Heavenly Mother, you will see all those divine perfections reflected in Her heart by virtue of this close union and ineffable communication of Her Heart with that of God.

The Heart of Mary is the tabernacle of the Godhead. It is the living temple of the Divinity, where God has come down to fix His dwelling, where He wishes to abide forever.

All is holy in this Heart; nothing in it, not the lightest movement, no thought, no desire, no love, no word, no action which is not utterly holy. Everything is saintly in it.

Now place your poor heart in front of this seat of sanctity, of this mirror without blemish and compare yours with Hers. Confronted with Mary's you will easily detect some vice, some fault, some imperfections in your heart. Insist and study this comparison, because you will certainly derive from it a great increase in your love towards the Most Pure Heart of Mary and an increase in the contempt of self and of the imperfections and faults which so deform your heart.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]