Heart of the Matter

Nice article from our spiritual director, Br John Soh, as posted in our parish bulletin 12/13 June 2010.

Heart of the Matter

Dear Friends,

This week we see the commemorations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (11th June) and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (12th June). These two hearts always seem to be linked together but it should come as no surprise to us who are Catholic, or does it?

From the very beginning of Jesus’ incarnation, when he was being formed in flesh from her flesh, his tiny little heart began to beat within her womb.

All of us went through this very intimate bonding experience when we too were being formed in our mother’s womb. For 9 months, our hearts not only beat in rhythm with our mother’s but we could hear her heartbeat and were aware of her emotions which affected us.
We were also aware that even after birth, for the next couple of years of our childhood, we were placed very close to our mother’s heart so that the familiar sound of her heartbeat would soothe our distress.

Jesus’ early childhood would have experienced this on countless occasions and would have helped form him into a healthy balanced person in readiness for his divine mission.

To be honest, I have never thought about these two hearts of Jesus and Mary in this way and had always felt they were just the artistic expressions of over-romanticised images which did not really appeal to my spirituality.

What brought about a change was a personal experience when at my mum’s last illness, I was able to spend the last two days and nights with her. Mum had a difficult first night and we spent it making her as comfortable as possible.

On her last night, I decided to sleep next to her in the same bed and finally settled down in a position where her head rested on one of my shoulders. She could not breathe properly - relying on aided oxygen assistance - and was uncomfortable lying straight down on her own.

We settled down for the night and the next thing I knew, it was morning and mum had slept through the night without any problem.

As I lay there awake that morning and watched her sleep on, I became aware that she was lying in a way where she could hear my heartbeat through the night. It dawned on me that when I was a child, I had probably been in that same position that she was in and I wondered if God - in his mysterious way - had given my mum a gift of peace on her last night on earth; I would forever be in gratitude to God that in my own helplessness, I could return a little of what she had given to me in abundance when I was born.

And so it was in Jesus’ mission of salvation, Mary’s role could not be separated; the two formed a life-long bond that could not be touched without affecting the other. That’s the reason why Mary’s heart was pierced by the sword when Jesus was being crucified; that’s the reason why we commemorate these two feasts of two hearts forever linked together.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Friar John Soh OFM
Bulletin of 12 / 13 June 2010

Source: http://www.stmary.sg/content/view/205/245/