Mary kept all these things in her heart. Following the celebration of the love of God that has been radiated to the world through the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Church turns her attention to the other heart that has partnered with the Sacred Heart in radiating God’s love: the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Today’s feast honors the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a heart that is most pure and loving. The Church instituted this feast to encourage us always to trust in our Blessed Mother as a source of grace and mercy. The Immaculate Heart beckons us to keep our hearts free from chains so that it may easily respond to God’s will. Above all, the Immaculate Heart teaches us to love all in the Heart of Jesus just as the Blessed Mother did. The Immaculate Heart is observed almost in conjunction with the Sacred Heart because it was the YES of Mary that, as it were, set the ball rolling as God sought to assume our nature in order to dwell in our midst. The Blessed Mother and her Son were close to each other, and it is often said that their hearts did beat as one. 
Mary has often been declared the number one saint, second only to her Son. As a co-redeemer with Jesus, Mary has definitely earned her place at the side of Jesus. That Mary occupies such a place sometimes can make us forget who she was as we begin to deify her. Unlike her Son who was fully human and fully divine, Mary was fully human. She was human when the angel Gabriel was sent to her, and she remained human even after conceiving and bearing God’s Son. The divinity of Jesus did not somehow rub into her. She was a human mother to Jesus, and was not spared any of the tribulations that all mothers must experience as they raise their children. Right from Jesus’ birth, Mary had to forget about her own comfort in order to attend to Jesus. For soon after Jesus’ birth, May and Joseph had to flee to Egypt in order to keep Jesus safe. We can all imagine what kind of a journey it was and how uncomfortable it must have been for the young mother. Although the Gospels tell us that Jesus grew up in the favor of the Lord (cf. Luke 2:40, 51), we can also assume that as a boy growing up, there were times that he got the better part of his parents. Today’s Gospel passage recounts how Jesus got lost in the temple. It took Mary and Joseph three days to locate him and when they found him, his response wasn’t one expected from a twelve-year old boy. It was a difficult time for Mary. But more was yet to come. 
When Jesus began his public ministry, Mary’s worries did not subside. Jesus’ ministry would take him away from home for days on end, and it appears that sometimes he would go without eating. It was a lifestyle that visibly took a toll on his overall appearance making people to think that he had lost his mind. The most difficult moment for Mary as a mother came when Jesus was made to carry his cross and go to Calvary to be crucified. Mary was there with him, watching her son get flogged and beat up. She cried. She felt the pain. But she soldiered on.
In all that Mary went through, she did not complain. Even when her own heart was pierced, Mary kept everything in her heart. When other people misunderstood what Jesus was doing and became mean to him, Mary didn’t ask Jesus to ‘come home’ and forget about the mission. What she was undergoing as a mother must have been painful, but she understood the importance of what Jesus was doing. As a mother, she would have loved to have Jesus for herself but she didn’t. She was generous to share Jesus with the world. And so today as we remember the loving and generous heart of Mother Mary, let us ask her to pray for us so that we too may be able to lead lives of generosity.