Jesus and Mary are inseparable, Mary: Day 082

Jesus and Mary are inseparable

St. Ignatius of Loyola insists that Jesus cannot be separated from Mary; they have been united from the beginning, on earth and in heaven.

The holy soul of Mary is united to the soul of Jesus, which is wor- thy of our adoration. She conceived him in her heart before receiving him in her bosom, says St. Bernard. She unites herself to him by the most lively faith, the most fiery charity, by her consent, whose memory we revere in the Ange- lus prayer three times a day, and which joins her with her whole destiny. So Mary is found with Jesus at Bethlehem, in Egypt, in Nazareth, in Jerusalem, and above all on Calvary, where the sword of sorrow pierced her soul when the lance opened the heart of her divine Son.

Jesus ascends to heaven, and Mary is soon placed at his right hand, that is, united with his glory and his all-powerful action in the salvation of the world. She is united to the King of heaven by a union beyond words. Here on earth the Son and the mother are united in the praises of the Fathers of the Church, in the prayers of the Christian liturgy, in the definitions of councils, in the solemni- ties of the Church. We see Christians honoring, always in union, the incarnation of Jesus, the conception of Mary; the birth of Jesus, the nativity of Mary; the presentation of Jesus, the presentation of Mary; the baptism of Jesus, the puri- fication of Mary; the sufferings of Jesus, the sorrows of Mary; the ascension of Jesus, the assumption of Mary; the sacred heart of Jesus, the holy heart of Mary.

The names of Jesus and Mary live always united in the hearts and the songs of the faithful. Their temples and their altars are always near together, and nothing is more inseparable in their pious remembrances, their confidence, their invocation, their love, than Jesus and Mary.
—St. Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
If Jesus and Mary are inseparable, is it possible to embrace one without embracing the other?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez: Jesus and Mary, my most sweet loves, for you may I suffer; for you may I die. Grant that I may be in all things yours, and in nothing, mine.

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