<p class="fontlook"><B>FEAST OF MATER</B>

 
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<p class="fontlook"><img src="../new_images/8oct2109a1.jpg" align=left hspace=2 vspace=2>This week Carrollton joined all Sacred Heart schools throughout the world to celebrate the Feast of Mater Admirabilis. Since 1846, when Pauline Perdrau first created the fresco she called the Madonna of the Lily, this depiction of Mary, the Mother of God, has captured the hearts of students, alumnae, educators, friends, and Religious of the Sacred Heart throughout our international family.  To walk into a Sacred Heart school anywhere in the world and see Mater is to be welcomed home.  What is it about this depiction of Mary that captures our hearts?  Why have generations of children and alumnae of the Sacred Heart been comforted by this simple image?  

 

<p class="fontlook">Consider her expression.  Why are we drawn to Mater?  No one can spend any time before the image of Mater without sensing that Mary knew something entirely wonderful, something entirely extraordinary, something that gave her incredible peace. These days we long for Mater’s serenity.  It is almost as if Mary has a precious secret that we might learn simply by contemplating her gaze. Knowing her whole story, who can but be awed at Mary’s Fiat?  Yes, we sense her holiness and yet we also know of her fear, the fear that Luke describes when Mary is confronted by the greeting of the angel, the fear and challenge of any mother whose child is rejected and scorned, the fear and heartbreak of the Mother of Jesus at the moment of his death, the moment she held his bruised body in her arms.  How did she overcome her fear and heartbreak?  How did she trust that her God would be faithful in love and be with her in the face of both joy and sorrow?  How can she say Yes…I am the handmaiden of the Lord.  I am one who hears the spirit of God, who listens to God.  I have found peace. How?

 

<p class="fontlook">The quality of Mater’s listening to God gave her an intimate knowledge of God. Mary understood well that in each of us dwells the spark of the divine, God’s spirit. With this knowledge came the ability to see herself in God’s image.  This is her secret and is the promise she holds out to us.  In Mary’s life, we see one who trusted the spirit dwelling within.  She developed the habit of looking for God in all things.  This habitual instinct to choose God takes time and energy to develop.  The important insight of this fresco so loved within the Sacred Heart family is the knowledge that a life lived rooted in prayer has both fullness and integrity. God who is beyond our imaginings has placed this spark there intentionally to remind all of us what our true birthright is &#8213; union with God.  God who is Mystery has placed this spark of divine love in each of our hearts to remind each of us what such love tastes like, what union with God feels like.  As a result of the indwelling spirit within us, our hearts are restless in God.  Mary opened her mind and heart to this powerful memory of God.  Living in accordance to the spirit was both her greatest desire and her greatest act.  It remains her greatest gift to us.

 

<p class="fontlook">There are many depictions and images of Mary.  However we first came to know Mary, hopefully we develop an intimacy with her.  Mater holds special significance for Sacred Heart students and their families.  Ideally through our celebrations on an annual basis and by regular reminders of Mater’s significance in our lives, each of us will come to know that in her we have a friend, a model, a mother.  Her experiences translate more and more into our lives and slowly her secret becomes ours. Her wisdom helps us realize that a life firmly rooted in prayer, focused on the essential, which is God’s love, enables one to act in love no matter what the circumstances.   Without the discipline and habit of prayer, such love is not possible. Inspired by Mater we learn the necessity of the interior life so that the personal love of God, as shown through the person of Jesus Christ, remains at the center of all that we do.

