ICON OF
THE UNITED HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY
A priest of St Mary’s Abbey, Lagrasse designed this icon, which has toured the
world. The original was burned in a devastating
fire in our sacristy several years ago.
This work, now well known, expresses by
means of lines and colours, a theological mystery of inexhaustible
depth.
The iconographer wanted to illustrate the
eloquent presence of the blessed Apostle St John, in order to clearly point out
the evangelical source from which arises the vast, powerful spiritual current
born from contemplation of the mystery of the Heart of Christ, which is so
perfectly “continued” in the Immaculate Heart of the
Mother of God.
In fact, the
Gospel according to St John, the documents of the Magisterium and the works
of theologians, as well as the writings and experiences of saints and
spiritual authors like St Gertrude, St Francis de Sales, St Jean Eudes, St
Margaret-Mary and St Faustina Kowalska, constitute the treasure from which the
iconographer drew his inspiration – though he would
hardly have neglected the undeniable contribution of supernatural manifestations such
as, inter alia, the appearances at Paray-le-Monial and Fatima
…
The authentic iconographic tradition is
alive in this work, the composition of which shows its ecclesiastical authority
and rich experience in adequately “representing” the divine realities which
became visible in the Person of the Word eternally incarnate, "the visible Image
of invisible GOD".
This icon aims therefore to "open the eye
of the soul" to the truth of the indissoluble union of the Hearts of Jesus and
Mary in the mystery of the Redemption, a union to which St John the Evangelist
was a witness on Calvary, and which he continued to penetrate mystically,
through his life in common with the Mother of Jesus, "whom he had taken to his
home" (cf John 19, 27).
This work aims to meet the real and urgent
need for an iconography in which theological design and aesthetic realisation do
not distract from the intimate richness of the Reality represented. Such an icon
appears to harmonise the traditions of West and East.
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O Mother of GOD and our
Mother,
I long to be in the recesses of Your Pierced and
Immaculate Heart,
to live, move and die there.
Deign to be the Source
of everything in me;
- that my faith, my hope and my charity may be all
founded in Yours:
- that I may love with Your purity and Your fidelity;
-
that I may obey with Your promptness and Your humility;
- that I may pray
with Your recollection;
- that I may understand with Your intelligence and
desire with Your will;
- that I may feel all things with Your
sensitivity;
- that I may see with Your eyes;
- that I may listen and
hear with Your ears;
- that I may measure my words with Your care;
- that
I may accept everything that You have made Yours, and reject everything You have
spurned;
and that thus, my own poor and humble prayer may truly become Your
own “conversation” with the Divine Trinity.
Hidden thus in the
Immaculate Heart,
I turn towards You, O priestly and sacrificed Heart of my
Saviour, Jesus, Son of the eternal Father and of Mary ever-Virgin;
Jesus of
the Gospel, risen, living and true in the Most Holy Eucharist and, by grace,
in my soul itself.
In Mary, I deliver myself entirely to Your Love,
to Your Mercy, to Your Goodwill and to Your Truth.
Vouchsafe to
impregnate my heart with the sweetness and humility of Yours.
You alone are the
One I seek, You alone the One I wish to follow, You alone the One I wish to know
and love.
Whatever the future may hold, I believe in You, I hope in You
and I love You.
You are my Creator and my Lord. Everything in me is Yours,
without reserve. Use all that is in me only to serve Your holy Will.
I give
you my liberty itself, so that it may become a privileged part of Your divine
plan.
Amen
!