The Immaculate Heart of Mary: Part II

THE IMMACULATE . . .

Our  psalmist thanks God for the insight given him as he reflects on God’s Law.

What he sees, he feels, is expressed in what he does, since “you yourself have taught me”.  A lesson to learn. Logically then on the basis of assimilated knowledge, now he finds; “Your promise is sweeter to my taste than honey in the mouth”. So rich, therefore, is life at the heart of the new covenant, that ‘taught by God,’ a new heart has been fashioned to receive all that God is revealing and reflect it. “I gain understanding from your precepts, I hate the ways of falsehood“. A refashioned heart expressed in personality has no taste for the bogus.

This pattern is true of Our Lady. She gave herself in faith whole-heartedly to the will of God. “The fear of the Lord is (her) breath“ (see Is. 11:2). And in that gift of herself, found herself giving a new creation and a new covenant. In glory now in heaven, she really does know that “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord”. (Lk. I:45). Given her present incomparable insight, she now knows as the psalmist could not that “your promise is sweeter to my taste than honey in the mouth.”

Nothing in Our Lady’s life suggests anodyne sweetness. In the presence of God in glory, she savors now the reality for which her heart was created.

. . . HEART OF MARY

Again, the greatest in Israel may give us a glimpse of what this might mean. Isaiah, for example, praying in the Jerusalem Temple, is over-whelmed, as with his deepening realization of the presence of God there, the building appears to come alive. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook . . “ (Is. 6:3-4). Such intensity of presence reveals that “I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips” (Is. 6:5), and his heart cries out for cleansing. This is done. Such was his path to the heart of the new covenant.

Moses, under God the founder of the original covenant, experiences similar wonder in God’s presence. “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground”.  (Ex. 3:5). Later on Sinai, he was invited nearer God’s presence as “The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai . . . Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain … And Moses entered the cloud and went upon the mountain. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai . . . Moses did not know that the skin on his face shone because he had been talking with God. And … all the people of Israel … were afraid to come near him”.  (Ex. 24:29-30).

THE TRANSCENDENT . . .

This is a superb attempt to present transcendent reality, particularly the holiness or presence of God. Without losing one’s identity – Moses and Isaiah are decidedly individual – one enters a deeper reality transforming wholly the partial vision one had before the experience. Wonder and awe resonate in a purified heart as the core of one’s being is recreated. The God-given insight of Moses and Isaiah did not blind them to everyday reality. On the contrary. They were changed men challenged to share what they saw; “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me’ ” (Is. 6:8). Everything is known as one at the heart of the new covenant, and everything is tried to realize that vision on earth.

. . . GLORY OF GOD

Our Lady assumed into heaven, now enjoys the transcendent glory of God. Her ‘Magnificat,’ a Gospel attempt to express the rich perception of her heart while living by faith, now goes beyond the possibilities of language. Enthralled and held by what she sees of the glory of God, for whom her heart was created, she becomes more and more like what she sees.

If Moses, radiant as he came from the glory of God, had to veil his face for those who did not share what he saw, what must it mean now for the person of Our Lady before the glory of God in the face of Christ? (see 2 Cor. 3:Z-18). Her radiant soul, reflected in her entire being, “magnifies … rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his slave … for he who is mighty has done great things for me … he has filled the hungry … in remembrance of his mercy”. (Lk. 1:46-56). Words or analogies can never adequately express what the heart of Our Lady experiences now, so aware is she that “Your promise is sweeter to my taste than honey in the mouth.”

SOME THREADS TOGETHER

The attempt has been made, through words, images, analogies and insights to glimpse the world that shaped the immaculate heart of Mary. We have tried to stay within the environment into which she was born and lived. And that is the point. For us, perhaps, the images and insights of the psalmist and prophet are hints and clues to what Our Lady may have seen and sees. Inevitably, if not exclusively, they are external signs, pointing to something largely beyond our experience. They point the way. They are not the destination. This was true of Our Lady, except, as immaculately conceived from the heart of the new covenant, her graced insight would enable her to see beyond the words and images, to the wonderful (literally full-of-wonder) reality to which they point. As she is now in glory, progressively knowing what she sees, we too can only wonder.

SHE ENJOYS THE EXHILARATING FREEDOM OF LIVING FOR GOD ALONE

In a word, the immaculate heart of Mary shows that there is no knowledge without commitment. Husband or wife, cook or sportsman have such skills in living in so far as they give themselves. Such giving translates ‘peanuts’ into ‘emeralds,’ in a perspective of shared love and experience. Our Lady gives herself not from time to time but unreservedly, and so dead to sin and alive to God in her Son, is open to God giving. She in turn, reflecting what she sees, gives herself, whether in a visit to a friend or opening her heart to us while crucified with her Son. All is one in Christ and all are individual. This she now sees.

Initially through heartfelt faith, latterly in glory, her heart has made her own the psalmist’s experience; “Behind and before you besiege me, your hand ever laid upon me. Too wonderful for me, this knowledge . . . beyond my reach”. (Ps. 138:5-6). What must that mean – for God to lay siege to me – and realize it?

Knowing what she sees in God-given insight, she is free of the self-centeredness holding and blinding our vision. She enjoys the exhilarating freedom of living for God alone. Open to whatever influence her immaculate heart can bring to bear on us, living as she does at the heart of the new covenant, progressively we are drawn to what she now sees . . . and words do not exist to describe that.