A prominent theme in our family’s’ life are things large and small associated with the heart.
Culturally, the term coraz’on refers to having courage and compassion. Our elders encourage the young ones to have and to show coraz’on. It is an honor to be referred to as “Mi Coraz’on,” as is often the case with grandparents and godparents, as it is a show of respect bestowed upon the recipient.
For 20 years, our family served in a program called Healing the Children. In this program, children were brought to the United States for treatment from developing countries where the technology did not exist in their country to address their need, and the family of the child had little or no resources. Everyone in this program is a volunteer, including the doctors, who in our case was a pediatric cardiologist, a heart doctor.
There are three hearts involved in this endeavor: The first is the failing heart of the child. The second heart is those of the doctors, the nurses, flight attendants and program participants. The third heart is the heart of the foster parents, principally the foster mother. Open-heart surgery is never trivial, so the burden of being “on” for 24 hours, seven days a week until the child recovers falls on the foster mother. The foster mother’s job is to love the child as if it were her own, and then return the healthy child to its parents.
From a faith-based perspective, this is where another set of hearts come into play. The seriousness and solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated the first Friday after Corpus Christi, which is June 27 this year.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus represents Jesus’s love without boundaries and his mercy for all of humanity. The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary go hand-in-hand, it was Pope John Paul II who coined the term “alliance of the hearts,” which represents the united love of Jesus and Mary, for God and for humanity.
Specifically, the Immaculate Heart of Mary represents Mary’s love and compassion as the mother of God, the mother of our church and, of course, a source of maternal guidance and protection for us. Without faith in the alliance of the hearts, the aforementioned work would not have been possible.
This year marks the 76th anniversary of the establishment of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic parish in our community.
For the pioneers in our community and those dedicated to Mary, we have lived with this symbolism of compassion for each other. In fact, every Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m., the church opens and a group of parishioners, led by women, pray the rosary and recite the Divine Chaplet in honor of our blessed mother.
This year’s feast day celebration for the Immaculate Heart of Mary is Saturday, June 28, at 445 Lewis St., but the festivities will be significantly scaled back this year and next due to the construction downtown and the limited parking.
That being said, the feast will begin with music inside the church at 4:30 p.m. provided by the Rivas Family Spanish Choir. Mass will be celebrated at 5 p.m. and presided over by our revered pastor, Father Samuel Auta. Fellowship with refreshments, will take place after Mass on the sidewalks of Lewis Street.
Bring your heart to our limited feast day celebration on June 28, but remember, you can show your compassion and courage, your coraz’on, all year long.
