Newsletter #53 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel USA

Dear friends and benefactors,

In order to reverence and admire the rare perfections and to evoke a higher esteem for the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we begin to consider one by one the first six symbolic manifestations of the Immaculate Heart of the Queen of Heaven, whose first origin and firm foundation is the Adorable Heart of the Eternal Father.

The first symbolic picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the heavens

Mary’s Immaculate Heart is a heaven exalted above all others, of which the Holy Ghost speaks when He says that the Saviour of the World went out “from a heaven surpassing all others in excellence” (Ps.18, 7), when He came on earth to redeem mankind. Our Immaculate Mother had formed her Divine Son in her Heart before conceiving Him in her womb.

St. John Eudes repeats very often that Mary conceived her Divine Son in her Heart through faith and love before conceiving Him in her womb. In this connection he likes to quote the words of St. Augustine (On Holy Virginity c. 3): “Mary’s maternal relationship would have availed nothing, if she had not borne Christ in Her Heart more happily than in her body”; and also the saying of St. Leo the Great: “She conceived (Christ) in her soul before conceiving Him in her body.” (Sermon. 1 on the Nativity of the Lord).

Mary’s Immaculate Heart is the Heaven of Heavens, created for God alone.
There are three significant reasons.

First of all, Jesus Christ is truly the Heaven of the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Ghost assures us
that the fulness of the Divinity abides in Him: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead,” (Col. 2, 9) and this same Jesus has forever fixed His dwelling in the Blessed Heart of His most worthy Mother. This must not surprise us, for Sacred Scripture reveals that even in this present life, He maintains His dwelling in the hearts of all who believe in Him with a firm and perfect faith. We can therefore conclude that, as our most lovable Saviour is Himself a Heaven, possessing no abode more glorious and delightful, than the Heart of His holy Mother, which is itself a Heaven, He is truly Heaven dwelling within a heaven. In this way, the Heart of the Mother of Jesus can be said to be the Heaven of Heaven.

Secondly, Mary’s Immaculate Heart is the Heaven of Heaven because the spotless Virgin is
really a heaven considered in her own person. This is the quality ascribed to her by the Holy Ghost, according to a learned and holy writer David: “From heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.” (Ps. 101, 20) As its commentator explains it, “the Lord, dwelling in the Blessed Virgin Mary, as in a heaven, has turned the eyes of His mercy towards the earth, that is, towards sinners.” (unknown in Ps. 101) Then the same author goes on to Say that this marvellous
Virgin is a heaven because, as all living things in the order of nature receive their life from the
influence of heaven, so does Holy Church teach us that the life of grace is given to us through the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Vitam datum per Virginem.” (unknown in Ps. 109) Now if this incomparable Virgin is a Heaven, we can well say that her Heart is the Heaven of Heaven, having been the principle of her corporal and spiritual life on earth and of the eternal life that she now enjoys in Heaven.

Thirdly, the Admirable Heart of Mary is the Heaven of Heaven, because, as St. Bernard says, it
contains the entire Church, which is called in Sacred Scripture the Kingdom of Heaven, and because all the children of the Church receive through Mary the life of grace. (Sermon. 3 Super Salve) If St. Paul assured the Christians of his time that they were in his heart, (2 Cor. 7, 3) who would dare to contradict St. Bernardine of Siena, (Sermon. 6, art. 22, Cap. 2) who tells us that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, like a good mother, carries all her children in her Heart? Who will contradict me if I add that Our Lady will forever carry all the inhabitants of heaven in her inmost Heart, which becomes the Heaven of Heaven, and a true Paradise of the Elect, in which they find the fulness of delight and joy, due to the inconceivable love for each soul which consumes her maternal Heart? Thus the blessed will forever sing: O holy Mother of God, thy boundless charity has so vastly extended thy maternal Heart that it has become like a great city, or rather an immense heaven, full of ineffable consolations and unspeakable joys for thy beloved children, whose happy dwelling it shall be for all eternity.

The Heart of our Holy Mother is thus truly a heaven, an empyrean heaven, the Heaven of
Heaven. O Heaven, more exalted, more extensive and more vast than all the heavens! O Heaven,
enclosing Him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain! O Heaven, filled with more praise, glory and love of God than the Heaven where eternal bliss resides! O Heaven, wherein the King of Heaven reigns more completely than in all other heavens! O Heaven, where the Most Holy Trinity dwells more worthily and accomplishes wonders far greater than in the empyrean
heaven! O Heaven, in which divine mercy has established its throne and deposited its treasures,
where it hearkens to the cry of the unfortunate and helps them in all their necessities! “O Lord, thy mercy is in heaven. “( Ps. 35, 6)
Let us draw nigh to this throne of grace and with great confidence present our requests to the
Mother of grace and mercy. Through the intercession of her Heart, most exalted, yet most tender, we shall obtain the graces that we need to become pleasing in the sight of the celestial majesty of God. Rejoice, O readers, rejoice, you whose great happiness it is to be numbered among the true
children of the Mother of pure love, for your names are written in her maternal Heart! Lift up your eyes and your hearts to that beautiful heaven! It is there that your hearts will find light, strength, powerful aid in the battle of life, guidance and succor, and above all inspiration to love your Creator and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven above all things.

Fr. Pancras Raja
Spiritual Director
May 1, 2021

P.S. If you would like to be added to our subscription list, please reply to the general email below with your phone number, contact information, and what major city you are near as well.
(Ourladyofmtcarmelusa@gmail.com)

Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Posted in Newsletters and tagged Father Pancras Raja