August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, here are some things to know about the devotion:
- Symbols of the Heart of Mary: Her heart symbolizes her Maternal love; the swords refer to the sorrows that our Lady experienced throughout her life; the fire represents her burning love for Jesus and for us, her children; the roses represent her purity
- The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is rooted in Scripture: “But Mary treasured all of these things, pondering them in her heart” Luke 2:19
- When we honor the Immaculate Heart we give ultimate honor to Jesus. In all things Mary is constantly pointing us to her son, leading us ever deeper into relationship with him
- “If you were to put all the love of all the mothers into one heart, it still would not equal the love of the heart of Mary for her children.” St. Louis de Montfort
- St. John Eudes, a 17th century saint, popularized this devotion with his great love for the Blessed Mother
- St. John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate of Mary on March 25, 1984 saying “ . . Before you, Mother of Christ, before your Immaculate Heart, I today, together with the whole Church, unite myself with our Redeemer in this His consecration for the world and for people, which only in His Divine Heart has the power to obtain pardon and to secure reparation.”
In this month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it is a good practice to consecrate your home to her maternal heart:
O Mary, Virgin most powerful and Mother of mercy, Queen of Heaven and Refuge of sinners, we consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate Heart. We consecrate to you our very being and our whole life; all that we have, all that we love, all that we are. To thee we give our bodies, our hearts and our souls; to thee we give our homes, our families, our country. We desire that all that is in us and around us may belong to you, and may share in the benefits of your motherly blessing. And that this act of consecration may be truly efficacious and lasting, we renew this day at your feet the promises of our Baptism and our first Holy Communion. We pledge ourselves to profess courageously and at all times the truths of our holy Faith, and to live as befits Catholics who are duly submissive to all the directions of the Pope and the Bishops in communion with him. We pledge ourselves to keep the commandments of God and His Church, in particular, to keep holy the Lord's Day. We likewise pledge ourselves to make the consoling practices of the Christian religion, and above all, Holy Communion, an integral part of our lives, in so far as we shall be able to do so. Finally, we promise you, O glorious Mother of God and loving Mother of men, to devote ourselves whole-heartedly to the service of your blessed cult, in order to hasten and assure, through the sovereignty of your Immaculate Heart, the coming of the kingdom of the Sacred Heart of your adorable Son, in our own hearts and in those of all men, in our country and in all the world, as in heaven, so on earth. Amen.
In Christ,
Fr. Andrew