In Her Heart

January 1, 2009

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. Galatians 4:6-7

When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. Luke 2: 17-20

Piety

The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace! Numbers 6:24-26

Study

The shepherds have almost a more important role in this unfolding story than that of the Kings or the Angels. Like Mary and Joseph, they are just regular folk…people…workers like you and like me. Yet the angels came to them too. The message was not reserved for just the rich, the powerful, the well-educated or the elites. Yet, despite their responsibilities, they obeyed. Just like Mary obeyed. Just like Joseph obeyed. The Bible doesn’t even give a hint that they grumbled. Maybe they did but even if so, they followed their instructions.

Not only that, but after carrying out the plan to see the baby-king in Bethlehem, they returned and continued to evangelize. In the Acts of the Shepherds, we see boiled down the two lessons from St. Stephen and St. John – act in obedience and then follow through your action by spreading the Good News.

After underlining those two lessons, there is one more gem (at least) to uncover here. And that is Mary’s reaction.

Mary followed out her commitment to the angel and to God by bearing a son. She followed instructions to name him Jesus even though there was no ancestor by that name listed anywhere in the family tree written down by Luke or Mark. But Mary never preached with words. Mary preached with her presence, her actions and her heart. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Luke 2:19

There are seventeen “solemnities” in the liturgical year. Three of these feasts center on Mary’s life: today when we celebrate her role as Mother of God and then on the dates when we celebrate her Immaculate Conception and her Assumption into heaven.

Mary kept all the activity surrounding Jesus’ birth in her heart and reflected on them in her contemplation. As Christ died on the cross, she remained with him in contemplative prayer until the bitter end. There, Jesus commanded her to be our Mother. At that moment, what she kept in her heart shifted from the birth, life and death of her son to us. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” John 19:25-26

Action

Turn your prayer to Mary today and celebrate the Mother in your life.

Read Peggy Noonan’s column on last year (A Year for the Books, Wall Street Journal, December 27, 2008). Ms. Noonan recalls some important points in Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire by Joseph Langford which she read last year. Noonan asks what made then Sister Teresa leave the convent “with only five rupees in her pocket, in order to work with the poorest of the poor in the slums of the city?”

She goes on to write:

On Sept. 10, 1946, on a train to Darjeeling, on her way to a spiritual retreat, she had, as Father Langford puts it, “an overwhelming experience of God.” This is known. But its nature? It was not “some dry command to 'work for the poor,'“ he says, but something else, something more monumental. What? For many years, she didn't like to speak of what happened, or interpret it. So the deepest meaning of her message remained largely unknown. Says Father Langford, “What was deepest in her . . . is still a mystery even to her most ardent admirers. But it was not her wish that this secret remain forever unknown.”



In this book, based on her letters, writings and conversations, he tells of how she came to serve “the least, the last, and the lost,” not as a female Albert Schweitzer but as “a mystic with sleeves rolled up.” Father Langford tells the story of her encounter on the train, of what was said, of what she heard, and of the things he learned from her including, most centrally, this: You must find your own Calcutta. You don't have to go to India. Calcutta is all around you. (emphasis added)

Let the examples of our own mothers, Mary and Mother Teresa hold lessons for us as we forge into this New Year headstrong and optimistic. As Ms. Noonan writes, “All can change, that a life—and a world—can be made better all of a sudden, out of the blue, unexpectedly. But you have to be listening. You have to be able to hear.”