Month of The Immaculate Heart

Only five days into the month, and already I'm wowed by the coincidences (or lack thereof because God plans all things) surrounding my leap towards a richer prayer life.

Last week we were speaking with some of my husband's great aunts, and they asked us if we had joined The Blue Army yet. As a convert (I converted Sophomore year of college, a story for another day) I had never even heard of the Blue Army, and was very curious. Come to find out, Blue Army members wear the Brown Scapular bearing Our Lady of Carmel. Without doing much more research, I was already feeling a "spiritual tug," if you will, towards joining up. Since converting, and choosing Saint Teresa of Avila as my patron, I've had an affinity for Our Lady of Carmel, so I'm sure that helped the nudge I was feeling. Then I went ahead and checked out the Blue Army website and thanks to some pamphlets I picked up from my husband's Aunts, read the Fatima story, specifically Sr. Lucia's account of the miracle and Our Lady's apparition.

Like I said, I converted a little over five years ago, so there's a lot of miracles, apparitions, mystic accounts, etc. that I'm still kind of catching up on. I knew the basic facts of the Fatima apparition: Our Lady appeared to three children several times over a few months, and at the last visitation there was a miracle performed for the crowd that had gathered around the children. I had no idea the depth and detail of Sr. Lucia's account, nor was I aware of the gravity of the messages Our Lady gave to Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia. Needless to say, I was completely captivated by the account of this miraculous event. I felt even more drawn to the scapular when I learned that Our Lady of Carmel appeared during the Miracle of the Sun, and held the scapular out to the children. "She wants everyone to wear it," is what Sr. Lucia said when she saw her.

Another aspect that drew me in was the image of Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, pierced by thorns and offended by sin. She asks in the Fatima apparition that we pray and make reparations to ease her pain. Having recently also done a bit of research concerning how much of Jesus' suffering Mary was aware of before His Passion, this was a very poignant image for me. Our Lady, knew and bore the suffering her son would endure for nearly 33 years. I can't even imagine knowing, shortly after her birth, that my child would suffer a brutal and public death...I think it would break me... Mary didn't just know, she bore it with grace, love, and faith, and when the day came, sorrow too. Her Immaculate Heart, and her forbearance have been on my mind a great deal lately. So, this past Sunday, my husband and I asked one of the priests at our parish to help enroll us in the Brown scapular, and for the past week, we have been practicing the prayers, etc. that go along with wearing it.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that this month was laid aside to honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Not only that, but that we enrolled in the brown scapular on August 1st. The coincidence, which I'm sure is not actually coincidental, just made me feel that God's hand was in this decision. In the words of my wonderful sister-in-law, Mary's Immaculate Heart has been "stalking" us since our daughter was born. My husband felt pulled choose the Immaculate Heart of Mary in lieu of a patron for our infant daughter. After all, who better to protect and pray for her than Our Lady? I'm now seeing a pattern that is leading us closer to the Holy Family (my husband has been establishing a devotion to Saint Joseph for the last few months as well), closer to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, and through both her and Saint Joseph, closer to our Lord.

I pray that some of her grace under pressure rubs off on me, I certainly need it.

Blessings,

MJ