June 13, 2026
Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Gospel: Luke 2:41-51

Today is the Saturday after the Second Sunday after Pentecost and the Church celebrates the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The ancient tradition of the Church tells us: Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary originated with St. John Eudes in the seventeenth century and developed in parallel with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. If the Sacred Heart reveals the infinite love of God for mankind, then Mary’s Immaculate Heart presents us with a model of how we ought to love God. Honoring her Immaculate Heart not only acknowledges her unique privileges but is also the path leading us to her Son.

Today, the text from the Gospel of Luke shows us the process of the Blessed Virgin Mary finding her beloved Son again in the Temple of Jerusalem. I would like to offer some reflections on this Memorial.

We often focus our attention on all things belonging to this world, choosing to follow all the powers of this world, indulging in the pleasure brought to us by everything of this world, and in all kinds of luxurious enjoyments. Whenever we are immersed in these things, our external actions cause us to drift away from God. Whenever God is not present in our lives, we will be like Joseph and Mary losing Jesus, anxiously searching for Him among the crowds.

In fact, the Blessed Virgin Mary also had this experience; she, too, searched for Jesus among the crowds because she had lost Him. She did not let Jesus separate from her intentionally, but it was a special grace from God. For in the end, she did not find Jesus in the house at Nazareth, but in the Temple in Jerusalem. This is precisely God’s grace: God, through her, points out a path to find Jesus for us. He tells us: He is not the Son of God as described by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the chief priests, the scribes, or the elders of the people. He is the Son of Man. The God He speaks of is not a God who rewards good and punishes evil, nor is He a God who delights in sacrifices offered to Him; He is a God who takes the initiative to draw close to humanity.

From St. Luke’s narrative, we can also see another characteristic of the Blessed Mother: she kept all these things in her heart and pondered them. She did not interfere with God’s plan, but actively participated in God’s plan of redemption, discerning the Holy Will of God in her life and submitting to it.

O God, who prepared a fit dwelling place for the Holy Spirit in the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, graciously grant that through her intercession we may be a worthy temple of your glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica