St. Luke reports in his Christmas story: “the shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem.” Of course they did. The angel told them to. They wanted to get to the action. Everyone hastens to the party, to the event, to the happening thing. But that is not the whole story. They can’t stay in Bethlehem. They can’t bask in the glorifying and praising. They can’t remain in amazement. No, the scene ends: Then the shepherds returned — returned to work, returned to their tedious jobs, returned to the humdrum and ordinary. What an apt description of New Year’s Day – this octave day of Christmas. We enjoy the holidays, the celebrations, the time off but we are aware that the rest of life hasn’t gone away. We still have to pay the bills and visit the doctor and hope that the car will start. After the long build-up to the holiday (and it seems to get longer and longer each year) we come crashing back to reality all too soon. We pick up where we left off. The same old troubles and difficulties that were there back on December 24 will be there on January 2.
What difference did Christmas make? How do we make sure that Christmas is more than an escape, a respite, a distraction from the normal rhythm of life? Are we different, is the world different because we have celebrated Christmas? To answer these questions we must act as Mary did in the gospel account: “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” We will only understand the significance of events of Christmas – the gifts, the family time, the meals, the parties – when we take the time to reflect on them in our heart. The old cliche that experience is the best teacher is not exactly true. It is reflection on experience that is the best teacher. Mary models reflection as the way Christians come to understand what God is doing in their lives.
For example, no doubt she reflected on the name of her child — “Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” She would reflect on how having that name for her son made her feel. What did it provoke in her that her son bore the name which meant “savior.” She would look at all that needed saving — not just political reality of the Jewish people but the need for salvation from our own doubts, worries, concerns, fears. She probably ended this reflection by remembering the Biblical story of Joshua who also was named as “savior” because he created a whole new people who ceased being a group of wandering tribes and became a great nation. Reflecting on these things in her heart helped her understand who Jesus was through all the rough times ahead.
In addition to our usual New Year’s resolution to lose weight and exercise more, let’s add the resolution to imitate Mary and reflect in our hearts. We should reflect on what is God telling us in the current polarized environment in the United States. We should reflect on what is God telling us as the Church goes through the sex abuse scandal. We should reflect on what God is telling us in our current family situation. And we should reflect on what God is telling us in the scriptures. Take the epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians for example. “God sent his Son … so that we might receive adoption as children of God, … and if a child then also an heir.” We begin that reflection by accepting the divine declaration of our true nature as children of God. How does that make us feel? Do we like being named by God or are we wary about what God might ask of us? Our reflection then leads us to examine how different that declaration is from the way society works. Instead of dividing the world into haves and have nots, into citizens and aliens, into black and white, into old and young reflection teaches us to see everyone as a child of God. And that turns us back to the scripture where the image of the Body of Christ serves to guide our decisions about the future.
The Church remembers Mary to begin this new year not for our admiration but for our imitation. If we reflect on things in our hearts we will find, as she did, that God is with us in all things and through all things.
