Celebración de la palabra

Saturday June 20

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Introduction

The celebration in honour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is closely linked to the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which it follows by one day. This is not by accident. When we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus we simply celebrate our Lord’s great love which he showed by dying for us and which he continues to give us day after day. Mary was close to her Son, not only because she was his Mother but because she loves everyone for whom her Son lived, died, and rose from the dead. Her heart is large enough to include us all in her love. She is with us in our sorrows and joys.

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
we thank you for the love
with which you filled the heart of Mary,
the Mother of your Son and our mother.
In your great kindness you have given her to us
to open our hearts to your word and to your love,
so that we can seek your will in all we do.
May she also let our hearts be touched
by the needs of people with sorrows and cares.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

First reading: 2 Chronicles 24:17-25

After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came to pay court to the king, and the king now turned to them for advice. The Judaeans abandoned the Temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, for the worship of sacred poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem. He sent them prophets to bring them back to the Lord, but when these gave their message, they would not listen. The spirit of God took possession of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, ‘God says this, “Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord to no good purpose? You have deserted the Lord, now he deserts you.”’ They then plotted against him and by order of the king stoned him in the court of the Temple of the Lord. King Joash, forgetful of the kindness that Jehoiada, the father of Zechariah, had shown him, killed Jehoiada’s son who cried out as he died, ‘The Lord sees and he will avenge!’
When a year had gone by, the Aramaean army made war on Joash. They reached Judah and Jerusalem, and executed all the officials among the people, sending back to the king at Damascus all that they had plundered from them. Though the Aramaean army had by no means come in force, the Lord delivered into its power an army of great size for having deserted him, the God of their ancestors.
The Aramaeans treated Joash as he had deserved, and when they retired they left him a very sick man; and his officers, plotting against him to avenge the death of the son of Jehoiada the priest, murdered him in his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the Citadel of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.

Responsorial Psalm 88:4-5,29-34

R/ I will keep my love for him always.
‘With my chosen one I have made a covenant;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.
R/ I will keep my love for him always.
‘I will keep my love for him always;
with him my covenant shall last.
I will establish his dynasty for ever,
make his throne endure as the heavens.
R/ I will keep my love for him always.
‘If his sons forsake my law
and refuse to walk as I decree
and if ever they violate my statutes,
refusing to keep my commands;
R/ I will keep my love for him always.
then I will punish their offences with the rod,
then I will scourge them on account of their guilt.
‘But I will never take back my love,
my truth will never fail.’
R/ I will keep my love for him always.

Alleluia See Lk 2:19

Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God
and pondered it in her heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Lk 2:41-51

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

Commentary

Mary’s “pondering in her heart” is surely the headline for Christian contemplation. Therefore it may be appropriate to let Meister Eckhart interpret today’s gospel passage for us in his distinctive way.
“They had lost the child Jesus in the crowd. And so they had to go back to where they had come from. And when they got back to their starting point, the Temple, they found him.
And so in truth, if you would find this noble birth [of God in the soul] you must leave the crowd and return to the source and ground whence you came. All the powers of the soul, and all their works—these are the crowd. Memory, understanding and will, they all diversify you, and therefore you must leave them all: sense perceptions, imagination, or whatever it may be that in which you find or seek to find yourself. After that, you may find this birth but not otherwise—believe me!
All must well up from within, out of God, if this birth is to shine forth truly and clearly, and all your activity must cease, and all your powers must serve His ends, not your own. If this work is to be done, God alone must do it, and you must just allow it to be. Where you truly go out from your will and your knowledge, God with His knowledge surely and willingly goes in and shines there clearly.”

Intercessions

Let us raise our hearts in prayer to God our Father, and ask him to fill our world and our communities with the warmth of his love. We say:
R/ Lord, hear your people.

– For the Church of Jesus Christ on earth, which is a community of weak people, that the power of God’s goodness may become visible in our love for one another, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear your people.
– For our world with all its needs, that Mary may watch over it, pray for it and keep people from warring with one another and from making one another suffer, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear your people.
– For people in lowly jobs, that they may learn from our humble Mother that God values all work done with love, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear your people.
– For all missionaries, that like Mary, our dear Mother, we may give Christ to our world and have a heart loving all people and especially the poorest and the weakest, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear your people.
– For all of us united here, that our faith may produce in us, as in Mary, fruits of genuine love for one another, we pray:
R/ Lord, hear your people.

Our loving God, these are the things we ask of you today. Let Mary enrich our prayers with hers and give us every good gift through Christ Jesus our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Generous and merciful God,
we are sure you accept our prayers wholeheartedly
when there is peace among us
and when we try to the best of our ability
to be one of heart and soul.
Help us in our weak efforts
on account of the prayers of Mary.
With her we offer you all honor and praise
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Preface: The Immaculate Heart of Mary (ICEL)

The heart of Mary is the heart of one who lives by the New Law.
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
You gave the Blessed Virgin Mary
a wise and obedient heart,
that she might perfectly carry out your will,
a new and gentle heart,
in which you were well pleased
and on which you inscribed
the law of the New Covenant.
You gave her an undivided and pure heart,
that she might be worthy
to be the Virgin Mother of your Son
and to rejoice to see you for ever.
You gave her a steadfast and watchful heart,
so that she could endure without fear the sword of sorrow
and await in faith the resurrection of her Son.
With the whole company of the angels
we sing your praises
in their canticle of joy:
Holy, holy, holy Lord…

Prayer after Communion

Good and loving Father,
in this Eucharist we have enjoyed
the food of life and the drink of joy
of your Son Jesus Christ.
Fill us with his Spirit of love,
that our love, like that of Mary,
may be reliable and lasting,
that no indifference may extinguish it,
no flood of impatience nor hatred may sweep it away.
Let it be a flame warming the hearts of people
and a fire burning for you
our living God, now and for ever.

Blessing

God has been very good to us. He has given us Jesus to save us from our inability to love God and neighbour. He has given us Mary to watch over us, to care for us, to pray with us and for us. Yes, Mary cares. Could our thanksgiving not be that we too learn to care for one another and to render all the service we can? May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go and, like Mary, serve the Lord in one another. R/ Thanks be to God.