Like Mary, let us reflect on the past year in our heart

Do you know who remembers more about your childhood than you do? Your mother. Men have memories, but we tend to turn to mothers and grandmothers when we want to know our past. They have stories, even about us, that we cannot recall.

St. Luke’s infancy narrative twice mentions Mary’s memory. When the shepherds withdraw from the manger, we are told, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (2:19). And when the boy Jesus is discovered teaching the sages of Israel in the temple, he obediently accompanies his parents to their home in Nazareth. Again, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (2:51).

This may be why early church tradition presumed a living link between the Virgin and the Evangelist. Did St. Luke gain access to a mother’s personal memories?

That question cannot be answered, but we do know that the Evangelists only record material they judge necessary for the training of future disciples. We are those disciples. Why are we twice told that Mary, whom St. Luke and later St. John consistently present as a model disciple, “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart”?

The answer is quite salient come a new year. Disciples are meant to examine their lives. That is where we discover the Holy Spirit. We seldom see the Holy Spirit approaching. Most often we discern the Spirit in the wake he leaves. That is why it is important for us to look back. Are we growing or diminishing as human beings? Are we more or less loving than we were? Are we closer or more distant to the Lord whom we love?

In the preface for Christmas Mass during the night, we pray:

For in the mystery of the Word made flesh a new light of your glory has shone upon the eyes of our mind, so that, as we recognize in him God made visible, we may be caught up through him in love of things invisible.

We do indeed discover God in the world, but how is it that we see what another cannot? Because we have looked again with the eyes of our mind. Because, like the Virgin, we have prayerfully reflected and pondered.

Fr. Terrance Klein, December 30, 2021

Adapted from: americamagazine.org