Maternal heart

This wonderful Greek icon is a variant of the model of the Virgin of Tenderness, and takes the name of Virgin of the Maternal Heart. In this icon the gesture of sweet tenderness of the the touching of the cheeks of the child and the mother which we find in the model of tenderness, is amplified by the movement of the child who spreads his arms towards the mother in a sign of complete abandonment. This gesture is the center of the icon. It is not the mother who takes on a different attitude than usual, but it is the attitude of the son that speaks to us of the mother's love. Both because he is God, and love starts from him - in fact it is always God who takes the first step of love towards his creature - and because from Jesus' transport towards his mother, from his unshakable trust towards her, we we sense her beauty, the greatness and sweetness of her heart, the infinite dedication with which she loved and placed herself at the complete disposal of her son-God. From Jesus' gesture towards her we deduce the greatness and faithfulness in her love for him. And if we look carefully at this gesture, there is more: together with the outstretched arms and the head thrown back, the uncovered legs and the little foot without sandal, they immediately remind us of the position of Jesus stripped on the cross. In this gesture, Jesus abandons himself completely in the arms of his mother as he will later hand himself over, with the same fullness of abandonment (but certainly in a more painful way), into the hands of men, in his passion and crucifixion. And Mary understands everything, she is already suffering in her heart, but on her part the welcome of Jesus is love, tenderness, infinite respect and mutual trust in Him.

So, while the center of the icon is certainly the small and already large Jesus, however looking at the mother also questions us a lot: God in Mary shows us his tender motherly love towards us and in Jesus he puts himself in our arms, asking us to correspond, asking us to try to love him, to try to open our hearts again to tenderness, to compassion, despite the pain and disappointments we may have had. He shows us that salvation is all here: in us also widening the arms of our hearts to welcome his love which becomes defenceless, which becomes vulnerable to the point of dying in order to be able to find ourselves again as children, to be able to return to being our father and mother, and hold us again in her arms like beloved children... And if we have the desire, but we don't know where to start, we ask for help from this beautiful creature with the Maternal Heart, she who was given to us as a mother to all from Jesus himself, so that we can rediscover the path of tenderness. Starting with the smallest, the most defenseless and weak that we have close to us to put them back at the center of our lives: thus we will be able to rediscover our humanity, our heart, and in it, rediscover the presence of our God.


Chiara Dal Corso
NP March 2024