Reflection for January 1
Bro. Michael Moran, C.P., Virgin of Tenderness
This gospel reading from Luke seems to me to be centered on “telling.” The angels told the shepherds about the baby. The shepherds told the Holy Family and others they met what the angels had said and what they had seen. We imagine these other people talked about all this among themselves because we are told, “𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑒𝑑.” Angels and humans are talking... all except Mary. She is quiet and reflective, keeping all these events in her heart. She is different: not placing herself above the others and not partaking in the chatter.
Why? Is she still frightened about the future of her family? I think after nine months of pregnancy, after a long journey to visit and assist her cousin Elizabeth, after the journey home to deal with Joseph’s fears and the questions of her community, and finally the long journey atop a donkey only to give birth in a dark stable, that Mary has been through the mill! Experience has loaned her courage, and she must have been feeling the hand of God moving in her life. I don’t believe she was fearful any longer. I find acceptance and forbearance in her silence. She is wiser now and may be quietly preserving the events and words swirling around her so that she can clearly recall them later in her life. She is a mother and a wife now. Her focus is on the future of her family. Her pearl beyond price is the truth of God’s promise made manifest in her Son. She is spiritually wealthy, humble and grateful to God for all she has been given.
On this New Year’s Day, this Solemnity, may we all commune with our Mother Mary. Whether parent or not, may we each deeply partake in her motherhood and in her reflective heart. The “silent night” is not over. The celebration is not complete. In taking Mary with us out into our secular world, we further our joy in what she agreed to do for us: she gave us her infant Son.
Lori Ann Ruiz