Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/010112.cfm

Entering a new year!

When they saw this,

they made known the message 

that had been told them about this child.

All who heard it were amazed

by what had been told them by the shepherds.

And Mary kept all these things,

reflecting on them in her heart.

Blessed Pope John Paul II, in his wonderful encyclical Mater Redemptoris, points to this and several other verses in Saint Luke's Gospel, when he reminds the Church we must practice contemplation. Those other verses: 

But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. (Luke 1:29)During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,  (Luke 1:39 -- the phrase "in haste" can also be translated as "thoughtfully.")...and his mother kept all these things in her heart. (Luke 2:51b)

Sharing Christmas stories last week Brother Paul told me of the excitement he felt as he played a computer-assisted game with his nephews. The whole family had great fun and he never noticed two hours had passed in the experience of a few minutes. Because he is a nurse he identified an "adrenalin rush" of excitement that seemed to make time stand still.

Paul and I spoke for a while of the addiction to adrenalin which is gaining recognition in the medical community. 

• Teenagers enjoy an adrenalin rush as they play computer games;
• Soldiers feel an adrenalin rush when confronting an enemy;
• Race car drivers are driven by the need for excitement as they challenge one another and the walls of the race course.
• Returning veterans miss the experience of combat and sometimes recreate it on local highways;
• Emergency room nurses feel the rush;
• Criminals are swept into astoundingly stupid behavior as they commit their crimes; 
• EMT's, police and other emergency personnel are familiar with it;
• and etc.

Perhaps Mary was caught up in that excitement as the Angel Gabriel returned to heaven. It drove her "in haste" to travel to the hill country; and, as she settled into the vigorous climb, transmuted into its very opposite -- a meditative state. 

(Perhaps even bloggers and other writers feel the rush.) 

But Mary also teaches us the art of contemplation, as she ponders these things in her heart. She is the first Christian and Evangelist as she announces the Good News to her kinswoman Elizabeth, and the first Christian contemplative. 

Brother Paul and I also discussed the gift Franciscans and other religious communities must bring to our beleaguered nation. Surely we are called to live quietly in the midst of excitement, experiencing life in the depths of our hearts; even as we invite others to come join us in prayer.

Shortly after I was ordained I went out and bought a kitchen timer. It was a spring-driven device used to time processes in the kitchen. I sat the timer by me as I assumed a quiet sitting posture and waited on God's mercy. (It nearly blew my head off the first time it went off, and I learned to muffle the bell with an old sock.) 

Nowadays I use my telephone's timer. I know I have nothing else to do, and certainly nothing more important to do, during the allotted time. I will just sit here and pay attention to God's presence. Sometimes I say one word of the Our Father with each breath for thirty minutes, repeating the prayer if necessary. If we usually say the prayer in two or three breaths, why should we not ponder it in the space of a few hundred breaths? 

One time I prayed an agonizing patient through his pain with the Our Father, one breath per word, and he was almost miraculously cured by the technique. 

With all our energy-saving, time-saving devices, we should have extra time to spend with God, if only we'll set aside our addiction to adrenalin, and let life happen quietly for awhile. 

Happy New Year