A reflection on the Eudist Feast of the
Holy Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
By Jean-Michel Amouriaux
"Jesus reigns in the Heart of Mary, come, let us adore Him."
This is the opening antiphon of the Mass in honor of the Most Holy Heart of Mary that St. John Eudes composed and celebrated on February 8, 1648. Since that day, the Eudist family has had the privilege of celebrating the solemnity of the Heart of Mary on that same date. The Heart of Mary represents her whole person unified in love, having no movement of her body and soul that is not accomplished by love of her Son Jesus and by love of all those whom her Son loves, that is, all of us.
We have always been in the Heart of God, "I love you with an everlasting love," says the prophet Jeremiah (31:3). This eternal love has been manifested in time to all humanity through the Heart of Jesus, opened out of love on the Cross as an open source from which springs the life of God, a river of living water that saves us.
The Heart of Mary is the human heart that has best received God's grace, that has allowed itself to be invaded and filled by this grace, - "Hail Mary, full of grace" -, and that has allowed itself to be totally transformed by love. Therefore, we contemplate the Heart of Mary as the perfect mirror of Jesus’ love, so much so, that St. John Eudes often spoke of the Heart of Jesus and Mary in singular to signify the union that became unity, prophetically fulfilling the image of the Church: "they had one heart and one soul."(Acts 4:32)
This is what we ask in this feast: to become what we contemplate: to welcome grace as Mary and through Mary, to live this personal union with her and with Jesus, to welcome the gift of unity in charity among us all. When we do this, the world will see and be converted! So, let us ask for the grace of this love that transforms us into itself, through the intercession of the holy Heart of Mary.