The Immaculate Heart of Mary

The veneration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is comparable in certain respects to the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There are, however, differences in this analogy as devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the "Divine Heart" as overflowing with love for humanity. In the devotion to Mary, the attraction is the love of her heart for Jesus and for God.

The love of Mary's heart is meant to be a model for the way we should love God. The fact that her heart is immaculate, that is sinless, means that she is the only fully human person who is able to really love God in the way that He should be loved.

Honoring Mary's Immaculate Heart is another way of honoring Mary as the person who was chosen to be the Mother of God, recognizing her extraordinary holiness and the immense love she bestowed on Jesus as His mother, the person who was called to share in and co-operate in His redemptive sufferings.

The aim of the devotion is to unite mankind to God through Mary's heart, and this process involves the ideas of consecration and reparation. A person is consecrated to Mary's Immaculate Heart as a way of being completely devoted to God. This involves a total gift of self, something only ultimately possible with reference to God; but Mary is our intermediary in this process of consecration.