Treasure and Ponder

Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

It’s that time when making a list of the most memorable highlights of the year seems all the rage. It’s a time-honoured tradition to look back and reminisce, to count down the best moments and experiences of a year gone by. In a normal year, it would have been quite easy to pick out some gems. But this year, most people would be scraping the bottom of the barrel to find a reason to be thankful. It seems that only one thing stands out and continues to hang over our heads like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. Covid 19! And it’s no cause for rejoicing.

When we recall the upheaval wrought by this pandemic in 2020, the tempting thing to do is to say “good riddance.” Let’s be honest, no matter how you wish to spin it, it hasn’t been a good year. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either delusional or lives on the planet Mars. 2020 brought with it plenty of suffering and perhaps for many of us, the most unbearable had been spiritual in nature - deprived of our Masses and sacraments, with cancelled Christmas Masses being the last straw. But the answer to suffering isn’t bitterness. It’s thankfulness. Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to count your blessings when things are going poorly.

This is what our Lady teaches us. A week ago, someone sent me a caricature of the Holy Family at the first Christmas, with Mary complaining to Joseph, that it’s all his fault for not having made prior reservations for a hotel room. The caption below this make-belief scene: “The real reason why it was a Silent Night?” The meme suggested that Mary was upset with Joseph and was giving him the silent treatment. As humorous as this tongue-in-cheek remark may have been, it is the furthest thing from the truth.

Instead of a petulant, sulking and exhausted young mother adversely reacting to all the mishaps on that first Christmas night, a nightmarish disaster, we see the exact opposite - a woman who was composed, meditative and grateful. This is how St Luke describes Mary’s composure and demeanour: “she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

The word ‘treasure’ is used twice to speak of Mary’s reaction to the events of the Infancy of her child, Jesus. The first instance is here in today’s gospel passage after she had given birth and the shepherds had left. Then later at the end of Chapter 2, we see Mary reacting to another incident in the life of her child, now a young adolescent. Those of you with children transitioning into teenage years will know how this story resonates with you. She and Joseph had just lost their 12-year-old in the Temple, and upon finding Him, they must have been shocked by His nonchalance attitude. Yet, St Luke again tells us ‘His mother treasured all these things in her heart’.

The word ‘treasure’ has to do with what has most value to us. And sometimes we do not really appreciate the value of something until we’ve lost it. So many Catholics have shared with me how the absence of the Eucharist in their lives have led to this insatiable and painful hunger. Online Masses can only provide so much band-aid to a Catholic deprived of the sacraments, but it cannot fill the gaping hole in his starving soul. When something is common-place and readily available, we often treat it with contempt because we know that if we were to lose it, it would be so convenient to buy a replacement off the shelf. But when something is rare, we will appreciate its true value when we no longer have it. This entire year has been a painful experience for many Catholics deprived of the Eucharist. But it has also been a year to help them cultivate a deep longing for what they often take for granted and have little thought of, once received.

To treasure is not just at the heart of gratitude but the way of prayer. Christian prayer begins in treasuring and pondering these things. And through prayer, every experience, whether painful or sweet, can be transformed into gratitude. That’s where Mary shows us the way, with regard to our own life and experience. Now most people will tell you that it is easy to ‘treasure these things’ when the events and words are all positive. We treasure sweet memories, the highlights of successes and achievements, we immortalise what is favourable to us by filling our display cabinets, walls and photo albums with trophies, memorabilia, and photographs, reminders of the most positive and memorable experiences in our lives.

But Mary shows us that we can’t be selective when we wish to “treasure” things. The befuddlement she must have experienced upon hearing the angel’s announcement, the prospect of being rejected and stoned to death if it was known that she was with child without being married, the arduous journey to Bethlehem while she was heavily pregnant, the inhospitable and unsanitary conditions in which she had to deliver her child and the visit of a rag-tag group of undesirables in the form of shepherds, the inability to fully comprehend the nature and mission of her child and finally, the horror of having to witness her own Son’s execution, would have been some of the things which she had to endure, treasure and ponder upon.

The painful as much as the pleasant, what breaks the heart as much as what fills it with joy is to be contemplated, prayed and be grateful for. That’s what Mary teaches us. That’s the example she shows. Prayer in this contemplative sense is for all of us, because all our lives are a mixture of what pleases and what pains, and all the grey areas in between. All our experiences, be they welcomed or unwelcomed, are to be the subject matter of our prayer. Our Blessed Mother was able to hold the terrible tension and pain of these long moments without wilting or breaking down or sinking into despair. To ponder in this sense is no joke; prayer in this sense is no joy, to be grateful in this sense requires more than human effort. It is all endurance and grace.

Through the lenses of Mary, we have a new appreciation for what matters. For me, I’m grateful to God for helping me to trust Him more than my own devices, cutting back on the noisy clutter in my life and helping me realise that He’s given me far more than I’ve ever asked of Him. Faith. A Parish Community. Family. Friends. That’s what’s important. It was a difficult, trying year. But God has a way of moulding us in tough times, and 2020 was no different. Love is perfected through suffering, faith is strengthened when put to the test and hope is deepened in the midst of darkness. Yes, 2020 was a difficult year. But it would also be a memorable year!

Mary’s experiencing of treasuring and pondering helps us to see that God didn’t abandon us even when all is dark and uncertain. If suffering provides us opportunities to love others, trials will give us opportunities to grow in faith and the uncertainties of the future will give us more opportunities to place our hope in the Lord. So, on this day as we celebrate a new calendar year, we look ahead into the unknown future, knowing that our God will never desert us no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. It is also a day to be thankful, to be grateful, for all the opportunities we have been given this past year. Mary teaches us that with Jesus by our side, that’s a blessing we should never ever take for granted.

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.