Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

by Friar Joseph Augustine, AIHM

I would love to enlighten you on the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and why we chose this devotion for our Augustinian community. The devotion to the IHM actually is an acknowledgment of the tremendous Grace that was present and realized in Mary’s life. Mary was Immaculate by a special gift of God to enable her to do the special will He had in store for her. It teaches us that God will and already has gifted us with what we need to endure and succeed in following His will and participating with Him in our journey home to heaven. Actually a very Augustinian theme. It actually goes hand in hand with Our Lady of Grace, the oldest of the Augustinian devotions to Mary.

We chose this devotion because of the love we had for the IHM community of sisters that taught me and ran the school where I taught.

The feast of the IHM is the Saturday following Sacred Heart Friday (late May/early June). This is the traditional day for ordinations in our AIHM community, and August 28 (Annual Retreat) is our traditional day for clothing and professions.