MEMORIAL OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. 20.06.2020.

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Readings: 2 Chronicles 24:17-25; Psalm 89 and Matthew 6:24-34. 


GOD AND MAMMON 

 

The day after the celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Mother Church celebrates the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The closeness of the two celebrations shows how the heart of Mary is close to the heart of her Son. The Immaculate Heart of Mary is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her joys and her sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, her love for God and a compassionate love for all people. The traditional image of the heart of Jesus is of a pierced heart, a heart that has suffered because of love. The heart of Mary is also a pierced heart.


When Jesus was presented in the Temple, Simeon said to Mary, “A sword will pierce your heart” (Lk 2:35). Mary, like her Son, knew the pain that love brings, and when Christ went missing at a tender age, she suffered the pain of loss in her heart just like everyone who has ever loved someone deeply. She experienced greater pain when she saw her only Son, the love of her life being hang on the cross. However, as the liturgical calendar for this year indicate the readings of Saturday of the ordinary time of the year, this homily providentially centers on the Immaculate Heart of Mary as a heart that truly love God as seen in the readings of the day.

 

In the Gospel we hear Christ say, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other, he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Certainly, Jesus is talking about the heart here. Many people would say they love God, but their service of money shows that in fact they do not. We claim to love God but cannot sacrifice or let go of certain things for the sake of God but can make great sacrifices to make money or some other thing more pleasurable. Whoever falls into this category should not deceive him or herself, money has become the person’s god. In the case of Mary, she was ready and willing to sacrifice her only treasure (Christ) for the kingdom of God.

 

While Christ speaks of God and mammon, He encourage us not to be anxious. To be anxious is to feel worry or nervous about something with an uncertain outcome. So, on what context did He speak of anxiety when we know it cannot be banish from the mind? Parents definitely worries about their children, even Mary was worried of what will become of her Son and pondered everything in her heart. Young people worry about the future. Christ himself must sometimes have worried about his disciples and the poor response of his contemporaries to his message. So he hardly means ‘don’t ever be concerned about anything.’ He says, don’t set your hearts on food, drink and clothing, or make them your main concern. Setting our hearts on such things would be pure paganism. It is about getting our priority right, which is to seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and then other things shall be added. This teaching of Christ was given as He explains the prayer he taught His disciples, ‘Hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’ These were Jesus’ concerns and should be ours as well.

 

As we seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness, we pray through the Immaculate Heart of Mary to enable us let go of things that are not necessary in this journey of faith, so that we can travel light and travel far, with our hearts being like that of Jesus and Mary. May God bless his words in our hearts through Christ our Lord. Amen! Peace be with you!

 

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ

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