"We never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek - Jesus, her Son." ~ St Louis Marie de Montfort
From Aleteia
By Philip Kosloski
One of the most effective and surest ways to draw closer to the Heart of Jesus is through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.The Church annually celebrates the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during the month of June and immediately afterwards, the Church honors the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
There is a specific reason why the Church pairs these two feasts together, which many popes and saints have commented on over the centuries.
Heart to heart
Pope Benedict XVI explained on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, “The heart that resembles that of Christ more than any other is without a doubt the Heart of Mary, his Immaculate Mother, and for this very reason the liturgy holds them up together for our veneration.”
Furthermore, St. Louis de Montfort explained in his book True Devotion to Mary that prayers to Mary are immediately transferred to Jesus.
She is an echo of God, speaking and repeating only God. If you say “Mary” she says “God.” When St. Elizabeth praised Mary calling her blessed because she had believed, Mary, the faithful echo of God, responded with her canticle, “My soul glorifies the Lord.”
What Mary did on that day, she does every day. When we praise her, when we love and honor her, when we present anything to her, then God is praised, honored and loved and receives our gift through Mary and in Mary.
The 19th-century book The Golden Manual offers a similar correlation when referring to the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary.
Let us love and honor these two Hearts, so intimately united; let us go to the Father through the Heart of Jesus; let us go to the Saviour through the Heart of Mary. Let us render to God the Father, through the Heart of Jesus, what we owe to his infinite justice and goodness; and let us render to God the Son, through the Heart of Mary, what we owe to his mercy, and all his benefits to us. We shall obtain every thing from the Father and the Holy Spirit through the Heart of Jesus, and we shall obtain every thing from the Son through the Heart of Mary.
The Heart of Mary is so intimately in union with the Heart of Jesus that one cannot be separate from another. It is fitting that these two feasts are also inseparable on the liturgical calendar.
If we desire to deepen our love of God, go first to Mary and she will lead us along the surest path to the Heart of her Son.
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