FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is also an emphasis of the Divine Maternity of Our Lady and is the starting point of the work of salvation. She is mother of all, “spiritual Mother of the Church, Mother, of all its faithful and of all its sacred pastors” because Christ “designated her as the mother not only of John the Apostle,” but also “of the human race, which he somehow represented.” (Leo XIII, LG 58, SM 10)
Mary carries on this role in heaven. She helps to nourish and foster divine life in the souls of redeemed people. This is “an integral part of the mystery of human salvation, hence all Christians must hold to it in faith.”
“Mary’s spiritual motherhood transcends the boundaries of time and space. It is part of the Church’s history for all times, because she never ceases to exercise her maternal office or to help us.”
PRAYER
O God, who in your kindness begin all good things and bring them to fulfillment, grant to us, who find joy in the Solemnity of Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, the grace to embrace the sacrifices our beloved Mother made towards her child and to invoke our Heavenly Mother’s assistance and intercession in all trials and pain, in Jesus’ Name. Amen
