Luke 2:16-21
Today’s feast is Mary, Mother of God. The Gospel passage, as all the Infancy passages, offers a message of great paradox in which Mary plays a central role. She has the call to motherhood yet she remains a virgin. She received the message that her son conceived by the Holy Spirit will be both Messiah and Savior yet He comes in poverty. The shepherds, the clearest expression of the outcasts in Jewish society, are at the top of the guest list. She had every right to expect privilege and prestige for such a momentous event. Yet she was uprooted from family and village and gave birth among the animals. The Angels’ songs did not translate into much physical comfort or convenience. No wonder, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” (Lk 2:19) And she was just beginning the journey!A disciple is one who hears the word of God and keeps it. More than any other role, Mary is described in the Gospels as the first disciple of Jesus. Whenever Mary is portrayed in the Scriptures, she is showing us how to be a disciple.
Later in the Gospels, Mary is the only adult who had experienced the majesty of the message of the Angels at the birth of Jesus. As the storm clouds of rejection and violence continued to surround Jesus, it is no wonder she pondered these events in her heart. In the midst of all the confusion and contradiction that ultimately was the mystery of the Suffering Messiah, she remained both the loving mother and faithful disciple even to the foot of the Cross.
Like Mary’s experience, God’s presence in our life most often is not clear and precise. We need to take the story of Jesus and bring it into our heart like Mary. Tomas Merton, the great spiritual guide of the 20th century, teaches us that this process of reflection is true prayer. This is his definition of prayer: Yearning to be aware of our presence to God, understanding of God’s word and knowledge of God’s will and the capacity to hear and obey.
Just as it was for Mary, our effort to understand God’s word and know God’s will is the work of a lifetime. For Mary, clarity was not the issue. Faithfulness was. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38) No doubt, Mary’s initial response to the angel, “How can this be? (Lk 1:34) was repeated often in her life as it happens so frequently in our life.
Like Mary, we need prayer to truly come to grips with the depth of our experience. We need to ponder and reflect on the Word of God and let it enlighten us to the knowledge of God’s word and clarity of God’s will in our life.
Among the many gifts of Vatican II was this: placing the Word of God as central to all spirituality. This has led to the widespread revival of an ancient method of praying the Holy Scriptures. It is called Lectio Divina. Literally, this means divine reading. It is, in fact, the prayerful reading of the Bible. It allows us to imitate Mary as she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” (Lk 2:19)
This prayerful reading seeks a deeper awareness of God to learn what God asks of us. It will lead us to know and embrace God’s will. It is all about the transforming encounter with God’s special means of revelation, the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. The attitude of Samuel: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” (1 Sam 3:10) is the basic approach to this form of prayer where the main activity is ultimately listening
The four “Rs” make up this style of prayer:
- A slow meditative reading of a selected text of the Scriptures.
- A reflection on the text that connects it with our life experience.
- We are led to a response in prayer.
- Finally, a quiet resting in the Mystery of this encounter.
