Amidst all the endless commentary in the aftermath of the atrocity that happened in my home town of Manchester, England, on Monday night the 22nd, and the appalling murder of the Coptic Christians on Friday on pilgrimage in Egypt, I could not help but wonder on, 100 years after the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima and her universal message of conversion and penance to save the world, how her Immaculate Heart must be in pain and sorrow over the events of the last weeks.
It put me in mind of that mournful but beautiful song of Mary Black and Eleanor McEvoy about the unique pain and sadness “only a woman’s heart can know” [see the words below for the lyrics].
Mary Our Mother, in these pain-filled days of barbaric fundamentalist Islamic led murder, knows pain of such intensity over the loss of life -more than any of the mothers, wives, grandmothers and friends connected with the victims- that in the end it will be her most perfected of human female hearts that will be a channel of inestimable, immeasurable grace for the souls of the dead and the grief of the living that is beyond our comprehension. So in these last remaining hours of May, the month dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, I commend the victims and their families to her powerful intercession and as Ramadan begins, when so many of the peaceful majority of Muslims seek to purify their hearts through extended fasting and prayer, may it be She, of Fatima, so cherished and honoured in the Quran, who brings the message of the Prince of Peace to the whole of humanity, to somehow penetrate the hearts and minds of those, who even now are plotting with evil intent to commit further massacre and bloodshed.
My heart is low, my heart is so low
As only a woman’s heart can be
As only a woman’s, as only a woman’s
As only a woman’s heart can know
The tears that drip from my bewildered eyes
Taste of bittersweet romance
You’re still in my hopes, you’re still on my mind
And even though I manage on my own
My heart is low, my heart is so low
As only a woman’s heart can be
As only a woman’s, as only a woman’s
As only a woman’s heart can know
When restless eyes reveal my troubled soul
And memories flood my weary heart
I mourn for my dreams, I mourn for my wasted love
And while I know that I’ll survive all alone
My heart is low, my heart is so low
As only a woman’s heart can be
As only a woman’s, as only a woman’s
As only a woman’s heart can know
My heart is low, yes, my heart is so low
As only a woman’s heart can be
As only a woman’s, as only a woman’s
As only a woman’s heart can know
My heart is low, my heart is so low
As only a woman’s heart can be
As only a woman’s, as only a woman’s
As only a woman’s heart can know
– Edmund
