“The Heart of Mary was the Temple of the Holy Spirit and more than a temple because from the most pure blood of this Heart, the Holy Spirit formed the most Holy Humanity in the most pure and virgin womb of Mary in the great mystery of the Incarnation” Letter to someone devoted to the Heart of Mary, in EC II, p. 1500
HEART OF MARY, TEMPLE OF THE SPIRIT
The Incarnation
Claret insists that from the blood of the Heart of Mary the Holy Spirit formed the humanity of Jesus. That is, from there the great mystery of love which is the Incarnation began. But also, from there begins what the German theologian, J.B Metz calls “dangerous memory”. That is, a memory that is not mere sentimental remembrance, but the remembrance of a courage that unleashes a startling reality. There begins the life of a Messiah who is an alternative. He is not a Messiah King born in a palace; neither is he going to present a novelty about the Kingdom to support the thirst for power, pleasure and ambition, but a Kingdom that is love, service, justice and peace.
It is the contrast that Benedict XVI indicates in the interview with the journalist Seewald and which is reproduced in the book “Light of the World”: on one side, “man aspires to infinite happiness, he wants extreme pleasure, he wants that which is infinite”; but some pages later denounced that this search for the infinite has been diverted by the world of drug, sexual tourism or other forms of false felicity: “We have to make it clear – and live it too- that the infinitude that man needs only can come from God”.
Deep inside, the conviction of Claret is that in the symbol of the “Heart of Mary” lies the synthesis of all invocations that are sung throughout the world. But above all, it is certain that the culminating point or mysteries of the life of the humble one from Nazareth are born and they bear all the deep meaning from the force and the love that spring up from her Heart. As the Council says, “embracing from the heart… the saving will of God is totally consecrated as a slave of the Lord in the person and the work of His Son…” (LG 56).
What profound perspectives are open to us as we contemplate Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, but also the first pilgrim of the faith and the more perfect Disciple!
