The relationship between the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a physical bond and a spiritual bond.  Mary’s actual heart gave life to Jesus’ actual heart while in her womb.  The two became one.  Her spiritual heart loved her Son Jesus and in that Mary was loving God.  While Jesus’ spiritual heart loved Mary, God was loving Mary. This spiritual love going back and forth between Mary and Jesus is what we are to mirror in our own spiritual relationship with Jesus.  The physical relationship with Jesus that we are all offered is in the Eucharist.  We consume the body and blood of Jesus and we and he become one in that union… physically.

So Mary and Jesus model for us the perfect union of the Christian and the Savior.  We who are in union with Jesus through love (by both loving Jesus through our prayer and knowing Him in the Word AND by receiving the love that Jesus gives back to us through Grace) and who are receiving Jesus physically in the Eucharist are mirroring the union of Mary and Jesus, Christian and Savior.  When this happens our heart and the heart of God are united both physically and spiritually, just as the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus are united both physically and spiritually.

The Body of Christ collectively always mirrors what the individual unions of Christian and Savior have adopted.  But our society has shifted its focus away from being in full union, both physically through the Eucharist and spiritually through prayer and relationship, toward a union focused solely on one another.  Just as a physical body cannot live without the heart, the Body of Christ cannot operate without the heart of Jesus being at the center.  All other parts of the body are given life through the pumping of blood through the heart and back out to the body.  For instance, the hand and foot cannot focus on their union with one another without the heart because it is the heart that connects them and keeps them in union with one another, as well as with the larger body.

When we see the focus of this spiritual and physical union with the heart of Jesus being shifted elsewhere we will see the effects of it in our society, it causes breakdown.  When the hand and the foot begin to try to remain in union with body but shift their focus to one another, they leave out the heart, which is their source of life they will quickly die from lack of blood flow.  The hand and the foot cannot survive together without the heart and the blood which it pumps to and from their parts.  Only with the recognition that the heart is their source of life and that their communion with the heart if vital to their life can the hand and foot not only survive and remain a part of the body, but it can also allow them to work together to do great things.  Otherwise their efforts are dead because it does not come from the source of life which is the heart, which is Jesus.

Anything that shifts the focus away from Jesus as the central point and toward the community first, whether it be Liturgy or acts of service, is actually cutting off it’s own lifeblood.   And though many would consider it “good”, it will eventually sour because God alone is the source of all goodness.  It is here where we see that what society says is good is actually evil and what is actually good is called evil by society.  This is because the heart is missing.  We see this so clearly in the world today.  It has become more about the union between each of us as parts of the body, which is important, but it is not the first union that we should be engaged in, and our understanding of things is flawed and will only mimic what the Creator does.  But we are not to despair.  God works all things for the good of those who love Him.  Whatever Liturgy we attend, or whatever acts of service we do, if we all have our own personal union with Jesus through prayer and the sacramental life, He reveals truth and we become conduits of change.  If we take focus off of Jesus though, even if we think we work for the good of the world we are in grave danger of vanity and pride.  We become self focused instead of other focused.  We become accusers and blamers instead of pouring life into others.  We become body parts ripped apart in a bloody battle instead of being a Mystical Body fed by the heart of Jesus.  Engagement with one another is a fruit of charity, it is not something to be forced or controlled on our own, but to allow to flow from our relationship (spiritual and physical) with Jesus (the heart).

The first and most important union is our heart being in union with Jesus’ heart (physically and spiritually) because this is the source of life.  The secondary union is our union with the body, which is only able to survive and thrive through our union with the heart.

The breakdown of this order is evident in the number of divorces, broken families, etc that we are seeing.  When we rely solely on our relationships between other men and women (even if it is our spouse), Satan can enter into that bond and eventually break it.  Just as the hand will die if it is cut off from the heart due to its constant focus on the foot as its source of life.  But Satan CANNOT enter into the bond of a person who is united with Jesus both spiritually and physically, just as Mary was.  This is a bond cannot be broken because it is properly ordered and freely given and received.

When things become disordered, when we focus on the work to be done instead of God, or we focus on another person before we focus on God, the devil can gain a foothold in our lives and in our homes and we will be blindsided, not seeing what has happened because we thought we were doing good.  This is why we must always maintain our focus on God.  God alone is good. This is why it is critically important to maintain a prayer life, even when we don’t feel like it. Maintaining our relationship with God should always be primary. This is where our authority comes from, and this is how we spread love both in our work and in our homes.  Prayer should be a central part of our daily lives. And it is why we should pray without ceasing, it keeps us focused on God alone, and all else stays in order.  This act of uniting ourselves in prayer, and receiving the Eucharistic Lord physically, this is where the power to change the world comes from. Our own heart, when united with Christ’s heart, like Mary did, will make us living sanctuaries bringing light in a world of darkness.