Reflection for 11 Sunday of Ordinary Time, week beginning 13 June 2021.
June is the month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Images of the Sacred Heart are displayed on walls inside Catholic homes throughout the world. The image is nothing short of being a depiction of God’s mighty love for His people – for each of us equally. It will always be in colour.
Wall depictions of the Immaculate Heart of Mary would often be in black-and-white, as if to show an appropriate deference to images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
We have just had the solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 11th), and the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (June 12th), side-by-side in the calendar.
In the depictions mentioned above, the Sacred Heart of Jesus will usually display thorns – the image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary roses. Each of these “add-ons” denote a Heavenly love for us. On Mount Calvary Jesus’ heart was pierced, as was the pericardium (the water-sac surrounding the heart). So blood and water flowed out, and for our salvation.
Mary is the highest honour of our race – the only person born out of the human race to be free from the mark of Original Sin, passed down from Adam and Eve. The roses depicted on her Immaculate Heart represent love for us. (Also, roses give us our word ‘Rosary’, where each “Hail, Mary …” is a rose offered to her in love).
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