But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
In the second chapter of Luke, we hear of Jesus’ birth, his presentation at the Temple, and him returning to the Temple unbeknownst to his parents. I have lots of thoughts on each of these; it’s hard to know where to drop in to this rich text. So I’ll rely on the accompanying reflection for some direction. This morning’s reflection is written by Sister Joan Chittister, and focuses on God’s word.
Chittister says we can hear God’s word directly, and we can hear it through others. Yes! The words of the baptismal covenant that are made when someone is baptized in my tradition and repeated several times a year to reaffirm include the line “Will you seek and serve Christ in all people?” Yes!!
But Chittister goes on to say that it’s easy to hear God in our language. But, she writes “What takes sanctity is to be able to hear in the tongue of the other..” We need to listen to, seek counsel and take advice from others. This, too, is the word of God. God’s truth comes in a mosaic of all of the voices and people around us. “The voice of God comes often from where we would least expect it”, she writes.
Mary heard words about Jesus from all sorts of unexpected places: from angels, ancient prophets in the temple, shepherds. Her understanding was exactly a mosaic, as Chittister suggests. And Mary treasured the words in her heart.
This morning, I’m thinking about all of the different voices I hear in the world, and how easy it is to dismiss those that don’t align with my image of God. But isn’t that precisely what we aren’t supposed to do, to create images of God? Don’t those become idols we create and then worship, and which reflect only a small fraction of God’s true self?
I’m sure Mary heard things she’d like to excise from her understanding of her son, to dismiss as inconsistent with what she conjured up. But twice in this chapter, we hear that she took things and pondered them in her heart. She was receptive to the unexpected places where God’s word would come.
People who disagree with me or with my image of God certainly are God’s beloved, and also speak God’s word. I need to take their words into my heart and ponder them, just like Mary.
Thank you for your profound reflection. It resonates in my heart and in my thinking. The Hindu mystic Ramana Maharshi, when asked, "How are we to treat others?" replied, "There are no others." To discount or dismiss everything we dislike or disagree with is to limit our reception of God's word severely. Once a colleague of mine said about a coworker, "I love X, but if he doesn't accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, he's going to hell." I wasn't sure how to respond to that, but I said, "I think Jesus can manifest himself to different people in different ways." She said she'd think about that. Your and Sister Joan's musings speak directly to that moment. Thank you both.
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