Two Hearts Beat as One

“Two Hearts Beat as One”—the title and lyrics of a song by U-2. It’s a nice description of romantic love but it most accurately applies to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary used to be celebrated on August 22 but was moved to the day after the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That makes sense. These two Hearts were physically close as Jesus developed in Mary’s womb and they were spiritually united in surrendering completely to the will of God the Father for the salvation of the world.

In the traditional Morning Offering prayer of the Apostleship of Prayer, we make a daily offering of our lives to Jesus “through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” That also makes sense. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God, took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. As Jesus came to us through her, so we go to Jesus through her.

Praying in this way—“through the Immaculate Heart of Mary”—we express our desire to have hearts like hers. We want to have clean hearts, with no stain of sin, no obstacle for grace to work in our lives and in the hours of our day. We want to have pure hearts, hearts purely devoted, 100%, to the will of God.

Pope John Paul II, in his Angelus Address of July 2, 1989 said:

“The Spirit molded the Heart of Jesus in the womb of Mary, who collaborated actively with him as mother and educator. As mother, she adhered knowingly and freely to the salvific plan of God the Father…. As educator, she had molded the Heart of her son; with Saint Joseph she introduced him to the traditions of the Chosen People, inspired in him a love for the Law of the Lord, communicated to him the spirituality of the ‘poor of the Lord.’ She had helped him to develop his intellect and exercised a sure influence in the formation of his character. …Therefore we can truly say: in the Heart of Christ there shines forth the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit; in it there is also reflected the heart of his Mother. May every Christian heart be like the Heart of Christ: obedient to the Spirit’s action and to the Mother’s voice.”

Amen!