“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” This is the second time in a week that we heard about Mary keeping all these things and reflecting on them in her heart. You’ll recall that we heard this same phrase in Sunday’s gospel passage after Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple. You will remember that Jesus was surprised by his parents’ concern and explained that he must be in his Father’s house. Both on that occasion and the occasion we hear about this morning – when the shepherds hasten to Bethlehem and, after seeing Jesus in the manger, make known to Mary and Joseph what the angels had revealed to them about this newborn baby, that he is the Messiah and Lord – we hear of Mary pondering what these events must mean. As she pondered over them, she surely became aware that something very new and different was happening.
Today, as the world celebrates the beginning of a New Year with the distractions of fireworks, parties and parades, we come to celebrate New Year’s Day by following Mary’s example, pausing to ponder and reflect on this most important beginning in all of human history – the birth of Jesus. Reflecting on this moment that we celebrate with such joy during the Octave of Christmas, St. Athanasius once wrote, “He became human that we might become divine.” St. Ephrem wrote, “We gave him humanity, He gave us divinity.” Through our adoption as children of God at our baptism, we can cry out, as St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading, “Abba, Father!”
And all of this occurred through the free consent of Mary, so we celebrate her today as the Mother of God. For the sake all of humanity, Mary said “yes” to the Incarnation. She received God’s Word so intimately it became flesh in her. She carried the Word to term and gave birth to it and then gave it to the world. She also accompanied her son – the Word made flesh – throughout his life, shared in the suffering of his death and the glory of his resurrection, thus modeling for us our own discipleship. Like her, we are invited today to reflect on this great mystery, and like Mary, we are called then to embrace it in our lives.
The Gospel of Luke recalls other important details of the story. Notice, the very first people to receive news of God’s birth in the world were shepherds, who had lots of time to ponder and reflect on life as they tended their flocks. A heavenly chorus of angels directs them to the stable, where they see and believe that this poor couple and their newborn infant are, in fact, signs that God has fulfilled his promise to save us by entering the human story. Then, we hear that, when eight days were completed, they presented him to the rabbi for the ritual circumcision, faithful to the requirements of the Old Covenant. In today’s second reading, however, we hear that, although Jesus was born under the law, he has ransomed us so that we might receive adoption as God’s children. So, as we celebrate Mary today as the Mother of God, we rejoice because through his son we are now children of God; what a blessing this is!
To share in the mystery of Jesus and to grow toward maturity in our baptismal identity, we need only to say “yes” to God, listen to the Word, and ponder it in prayer as Mary did. Everything else will flow from this beginning. Let us, like Mary, keep all these things in our hearts, and reflect on them throughout the coming year; it will then be a year of true grace and the Lord will bless and keep us.