Side by Side, Heart to Heart

“Constant was the love He gave her, though He went forth from her side.”

These lyrics rung out to me as I sang this sweet hymn, Sing of Mary, at the Mass for the Solemnity of Mary. Usually we hear of Jesus’ side; His open, wounded side. Here, we are brought to Mary’s pierced side. Jesus came from Mary’s side – conceived, born, and nestled under the beating of her tender effervescent maternal Heart – so Mary could drink from His crucified side and swaddle us all under this font of living, salvific Water & Blood.

Why the side? The side is the most vulnerable, the opening to the inside of the heart, the piercing of which opens the floodgates, revealing what is contained in the most intimate depths of the person. Side meets side at the foot of the Cross. Ache for intimacy finds a home in mutual hearts pierced open by the love of and for the other. Mutual vulnerability. Mutual tenderness; to make another’s feelings and movements of the heart, one’s own. Wound kissing wound, side breathing into side. Hearts made one.

May we find our home in the wounded and pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary this new year. May we find our deepest yearning for intimacy met in the spousal bond consummated at the Cross of undying Love. May we receive all the gifts and graces and particular surprise blessings the Bridegroom longs to lavish upon us this year! May we, with Jesus, come forth from Mary’s side, and with Mary, come forth from Jesus’ side, to be re-born into newness and fullness of life in abundance!

“. . . We meet God heart to heart.
We plunge into the wounded heart of Jesus . . .
We leave our wounded and pain-filled hearts and enter that place of refuge and divine delight, a furnace of love that consumes all shame and inflames us with deeper desire, but that too is delightful . . .
This is a most intimate meeting place with Jesus and those we love . . .
It is the marriage bed, the place of spousal intimacy.”
~ A Carmelite Sister, Avoiding Bitterness in Suffering

Copyright 2022, Marian Veilleux