Immaculate Heart of Mary Memorial and 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 12th and 13th ...two meditations

Scripture: June 12th: Feast of Immaculate Heart of Mary. Isaiah 61:9-11.
Psalm : I Samuel 2, Luke 2:41-54:

There is a Mass dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the "
Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary". It is one among the 46
special masses prepared for Saturdays and for the various seasons of the
year. They were designed to give alternatives for those who are dedicated
to ministering to people who come on pilgrimages to various shrines of
Mary. From the Scriptures we learn that the mother Mary is never separated
from her son Jesus and that she is his first and most faithful
disciple--never to be surpassed by any of us. This feast is celebrated
right after the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus thus even in the liturgy
the Son and Mother are never separated. Both feasts occurs in the weekends
after the second Sunday of Pentecost.

Luke gives us the last scene from his Infancy Narrative that has much in
common with the Johannine scene of Cana according to the exegetes. We
have an insight into the inner feelings of the Mother and St.Joseph upon
the loss and eventually finding of Jesus in the presincts of the Temple in
Jerusalem. This passage is the only one that gives us authentic biblical
information about the peson of Jesus as he approaches his teens and as he
enters in Judaism the beginnings of his manhood. This is seen today in the
bar mitzvah ritual for young boys reaching their twelfth year. The
passage is important for correcting what will later be discovered and known
as the fantastic and highly unlikely apocryphal stories about the child
Jesus at ages five and eight. These are found in the Gospel of Pseudo
Matthew and that of Philip. These apocryphal writings are usually from the
third and fourth centuries and teach us nothing about the historical Jesus.

Mary is said to have "kept all these things in her heart." The expression
"things" is the usual English translation here for the word "rhemata" in
the original language of Luke--Koine or Common Greek. The word is more
polyvalent and has the meaning of words, events, happenings, and sayings.
We can therefore imagine Mary's heart pondering over all of these meanings
as she thinks about the role of Jesus in her life and her journey of faith.
The word in Greek is the equivalent of the great word DABAR in Hebrew which
is even more dense and polyvalent in it meaning, hence, the many possible
translations of it. The Hebrew implies that when it is used of God then
something is created or has a great and realistic effect on persons,
places, or things. Dabar is used 2584 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and
is a favorite word of Jeremiah who uses it 319 times while it is found 127
times in the Psalms.

Mary's reminiscing and mulling over the words, deeds, and happenings of her
son is mentioned at the beginning of Luke's story about the shepherds
coming to see the child and finding him with his mother and in our pericope
about the finding of the boy Jesus in the Temple. (see Luke 2:19; Luke
2:51). In the lectionary we find that the Preface of the Mass leads us to
see the following attributes of the heart of Jesus' mother :
immaculate, wise, obedient, new, gentle, undivided, pure, steadfast, and
watchful. Our own hearts when united to Jesus aim to cultivate these
attributes or virtues as we meditate and ponder over the words of God in
the Old Testament and of God's Son in the New Testament. Mary did this for
thirty or more years!

"God's word is close to all who believe and is the delight of the faithful:
"In God, whose word I praise,/ in the Lord whose word I praise,/ in God I
trust; I am not afraid" (Psalm 56:10-11). It is this word that guides the
believer (Psalm 119:105) and gives the faithful life (Psalm 119:49-50).
Amen.

Scripture for June 13th, eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C.
Lectionary # 93: II Samuel 12:7-10, Psalm 32. Galatians 2:16,19-21. Luke
7:36-8:3.

Forgiveness is the main theme for this Sunday. The liturgy of the word
helps us to see the essentials of forgiveness especially in the first
reading from II Samuel and from the Gospel of Luke in the story he tells us
about Jesus and the woman who washes the feet of Jesus and dries them with
her hair. Paul confirms the stories by his reflection on the necessity of
faith and trust in the power of Jesus crucified and the Psalm helps us to
pray for forgiveness.

We learn in the reading from Samuel how David is confronted by Nathan, the
true prophet of God who is always associated with David. He first tells of
a rich man who takes the only lamb owned by a poor man to offer something
to a visitor. David is infuriated at the man in the parable and then Nathan
helps him realize it refers to his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder
of her husband Uriah. These are two great and awful sins and crime against
another person. They are forbidden by the fifth and sixth commandment. In
seeking God's forgiveness, David openly admits his sins before the prophet
Nathan. He does this frankly and without arguing with Nathan's
confrontation. This is the first step toward our obtaining forgiveness of
God-- we have to admit we are a sinner and admit we have committed these
specific sins whatever they may be. We will know them for they give us a
guilt feeling and we have anxiety stirring within our hearts and minds.
David takes some steps that also help us when we seek forgiveness from God
and others. We need to pray and to fast from what we have done in the
future. One could call this a "firm purpose of amendment."

We learn even more from the story that Luke narrates about the invitation
of Jesus by Simon, a Pharisee, to dine at his home. Simon does not pay
attention to his guest and neglects some of the important customs of
hospitality such as an ablution or washing of ones hands and feet by one of
the servants. Simon, like David, is oblivious of his behavior. The
powerful scene continues with the approach of a woman who is "known to be a
sinner". She does the customary ablutions in an extraordinary and humble
way that shows she trusts in Jesus and the way he treats even sinners,
publicans, and tax collectors. Simon and the others think Jesus should
know better and not allow such a person to approach him much more how could
he ever allow her to wash his feat and dry them with her hair-- a sensuous
and serious act on her part in their estimation. Jesus knows her heart and
forgives her because of her great faith, trust and love wrapped in honest
humble actions of hospitality.

Since the woman is not named (we can place our own name in the scene and
wash the feet of Jesus or the one whom we have offended). We too can ask
inwardly for God's and Jesus' forgiveness. We do this at the penitential
rite at the beginning of Mass and we also do it more concretely in the
sacrament of reconciliation through our confession and admissions of our
sins of commission and omission. Some cannot do this in the formality of
confession. Jesus also forgives in many ways, but humility, trust, faith,
love and thankfulness are involved. Most of us can approach and ask
forgiveness through the sacrament of Reconciliation. If we have the
courage to admit our motives, our addictions, and sins to counselors, all
the moreso should we be able to do so in the confession of our sins.
Humility is essential both for the minister and the one ministered to in
this powerful sacrament of forgiveness. We can learn much from both David
and the unnamed woman. Amen.