A Heart Like Mary

    It seems like one of the most prayed prayers among women on this campus is “Please make my heart like Our Lady’s!!”  While this is a beautiful prayer that should definitely be prayed, I sometimes wonder if we know what we’re really asking for. 
    A heart like Our Lady’s is not one of stone.  It is not impervious to grief or sorrow.  It doesn’t mean we’ll suddenly be calm at all times and nothing will ever faze us or stress us out again.  What it IS is a heart full of grace and complete openness to God’s Will. 
    Let’s think about this more.  Mary is the Immaculate Conception- she was born without original sin.  But she also had free will.  So even though she was untouched by sin, she still had a choice every moment of every day whether or not to remain that way.  Being filled with grace helped with this decision of course, but it was still a choice.  The “yes” that she gave at the Annunciation had been repeated everyday of her life up to that point (and continued after).  So we can say that Mary had a perfect heart- Immaculate actually. 
    Fast forward to when Jesus gets left behind in the Temple.  When Mary and Joseph find Him, look at the first thing Mary says, “Son, why have you treated us so?  Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously!”  I do not believe this was delivered in a calm, even tone with a gentle smile.  Mary and Joseph had been running around the city for three days frantically searching for the Son of God Whom they had misplaced.  It was not a leisurely stroll around Jerusalem, knowing Jesus was probably in the Temple.  There was uncertainty and anxiety involved.  I can only imagine what  Joseph was going through.
    Let us look also at the Passion of Christ.  Mary was with Him the whole time.  Do you not think she shared in the pain of her Son?  Back at the Presentation at the Temple, Simeon tells Mary “…and a sword shall pierce through your own soul also, that thoughts out of many may be revealed.”  A sword does not merely tickle.  A sword hacks through flesh and bone.  During the Passion, she walked with her Son and was there through it all, watching and praying.  The deep maternal pain of seeing your child in agony was added to the spiritual pain of her God being attacked. 
    Through all this pain and grief, we can identify something that makes Our Lady’s sufferings different.  She was not suffering from selfish desires, her grief was holy.  She was mourning the loss of the good, what was replaced by the evil that was happening.  Her grief honored the good by acknowledging the choices that could have been made.  So closely was her heart tied to Christ’s that there was really no room for anything but Love.  This is the kind of heart we should be praying for, one that has the potential to experience great sorrow precisely because it has been filled with great Love first.

Happy Holy Week!
Your sister in Christ,
Jenny