By J. Leonard Martinez
The 76th Anniversary of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church will be celebrated on Saturday, June 28 with 5pm Holy Mass officiated by Father Samuel Auta, preceded by music led by the Rivas Family Spanish Choir starting at 4:30pm. Light refreshments following Mass at 445 Lewis Street.
A prominent theme in our families life, are things large and small associated with the heart.
Culturally, the term Corazón refers to having courage and compassion. Our elders encourage the young ones to have and to show Corazón. It is an honor to be referred to as ‘Mi Corazón‘, as is often the case with Grandparents and God Parents, 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 Third World 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 3 hearts involved in this endeavor: The first being the failing heart of the child. The second heart being 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, 7 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 4:00pm, 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 Street, 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 4:30pm provided by the Rivas Family Spanish Choir.
Mass will be celebrated at 5:00pm at IHM 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 28th but remember, you can show your compassion and courage — your Corazón — all year long.