28 June 2014 - openhearted surgery

28 June 2014 - openhearted surgery 

Following Jesus doesn't mean we always understand him.

“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.

Sometimes we too cannot find Jesus where we expect to find him.  We encounter him in new and unexpected places.  Sometimes we are "astonished" to find him in these places.  Pope Francis is a good example of this.  He brings the presence of Jesus to unexpected places in unexpected ways.  Hopefully we aren't like his critics, but instead like Mary.  She isn't exactly happy with Jesus wandering off to the temple to teach these teachers.  It causes her and Joseph "great anxiety" to find him here rather than where they expect him to be.  They expect Jesus to be with the people that they know.  But Jesus is never one for honoring our expectations.  He goes where he is needed rather than where we expect him to go.  And the temple needs him.  It needs truth that only he has to free it from error.

Turn your steps toward the utter ruins;
toward all the damage the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
Your foes roar triumphantly in your shrine;
they have set up their tokens of victory.
They are like men coming up with axes to a clump of trees.
With chisel and hammer they hack at all the paneling of the sanctuary.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
the place where your name abides they have razed and profaned.

Yet Mary's heart remains open to Jesus in spite of her expectations.  Her heart is wide open to her child.  Shepherds tell her that her child will be the long awaited Messiah and her heart remains open.  She keeps these things in her heart.  She finds that his mission to his "Father's house" will take precedence over his family life.  And still she keeps these things in her heart.  Already we see a heart open both to the joys and sorrows of Jesus.  We see a heart that can exult in the Messiah, that can magnify the LORD and rejoice in God.  But we also see a heart which is torn from her child for "three days", a prophetic preparation for the cross.  And even this "great anxiety" is not something she will surrender.  If it from Jesus she will keep it in her heart.  Her trust in God tells her that of which Jesus assures his disciples, "I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you."  

Because her heart is so open to the whole Jesus she is able to stand with him at the cross.  She is able to rejoice in his resurrection.  She does not cling to him when he ascends to the Father.  She is able to be entirely present and open to the decent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The thing about this Immaculate Heart is that she didn't create it herself.  Her heart is Immaculate because she is the Immaculate Conception.  She is created as "full of grace" because God gives her this grace from the moment of her birth.  This Immaculate Heart is the only heart which can say, "May it be done unto me according to thy word."  It does not exist for it's own sake, nor is grace poured out on her for her alone.  This heart is molded by God as, not just one of many, but the single conduit of his blessings to the world.  And it is not merely the physical Jesus we receive through this conduit.  The LORD Jesus embraces all of the commandments.  He does not step through her as though through a door.  He chooses this family life with the most intentional choice. 

He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;

Her heart is open to him.  He is obedient to her.  Because of this, he is able to do what he wants to do through her.  She is able to be a font of grace and intercession for us because she is open to the desires of his heart.  And because her heart is Immaculate Jesus does not need to hedge on his obedience to her.  The attendees at a certain wedding in Cana can testify that this is a good thing.

Her heart is open wide enough to embrace us as well, her other children (cf. Joh. 19:26), those who call on the name of Jesus (cf. Rev. 12:17).  Her heart is large enough for all of our concerns, from the small to the great. 

Cry out to the Lord;
moan, O daughter Zion!
Let your tears flow like a torrent
day and night;
Let there be no respite for you,
no repose for your eyes.

She does not shut out the cross and she does not shut out our pain.  She is able to embrace it with a hope and trust which envelopes it and brings it out into the power of the resurrection. She is even able to help shape our hearts to be open like hers.