As the month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Motherhood of the Son of God, and the month of June is dedicated to Jesus’ Sacred Heart, and the month of July is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, so the month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Church reminds us that, when the Son of God became Man, He came to us in the womb of a Virgin Mother, and her virginal womb was His first refuge in this world. During the first two months of His human life, He shared her heart as His Own until His Own Heart had formed. The first nine months of His human life He dwelled within her just beneath her Immaculate Heart and, after birth, the newborn Savior spent hours in the arms of Mary, held by her still close to her Immaculate Heart. No doubt, it was His favorite place to be in this entire world which He Himself had created. And when His Heart ceased to beat when He died upon the Cross, His Body was taken down and laid again in the arms of Mary where her Immaculate Heart continued to beat for Him. Thus His mortal human life began, and thus it ended; thus she received Him in life, thus she received Him in death, close to her Immaculate Heart. The lesson should be clear to every one of us who would honor Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and faithfully follow Him as our Savior: resting upon the Immaculate Heart of Mary should be our favorite place to be. When we receive and wear the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we symbolically place her arms around us to draw us near her Immaculate Heart. We should ever after that rest lovingly in her pure heart, whenever we are troubled or afflicted, and especially when we are in danger. In grave illness, even facing the prospect of death, where shall we go for refuge but to the Immaculate Heart? We place ourselves in Our Lady’s loving arms and ask her to hold us close to her Immaculate Heart. Look at Our Lady’s altar in this church. The Catholic people of our church (then called St. Matthew’s) gathered before that altar every day to beseech Our Lady of Perpetual Help for the safe return of their loved ones then deployed throughout the world fighting World War II. Now above that altar stands the statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and there also is the figure of the Christchild, seeking refuge where He wants every one of us to be, held in Mary’s arms near her Immaculate heart.