The line, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart,” is so important. The original Greek can also be translated as “Mary preserved all these things…” or, even better, “Mary treasured all these things…”
Mary’s life around the time of the birth of Jesus was filled with extraordinary moments. Yet for the next 30 years, who knows if anything as powerful happened to her? Jesus is found in the Temple at age 12, but really, until Jesus’s first miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana, Mary’s daily life was, at least outwardly, ordinary. That is why that “treasuring” and “reflecting” is so important.
All of us—even when we feel “marginal”—have had memorable experiences of God’s presence: perhaps a surprising experience in prayer, a moving moment during a Mass, a flash of awe while beholding a wonder in nature, a moment of bliss in a romantic relationship, a time of insight during a retreat. And yet those moments are, by their very nature, fleeting. Like Mary, we are called to “treasure them,” and “reflect” on them, to see what God might want to say to us. That “treasuring” is what faith is all about.
In May we celebrate the Virgin Mary...
Image source: He Qui, Nativity (1998), https://thejesusquestion.org/2011/12/25/nativity-paintings-from-around-the-world/
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