The great African bishop, St. Augustine, has a profound sermon where he constrasts John the Baptist as the voice (“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert”) with Jesus as the Word (“In the beginning was the Word.”) A voice could just be noise, not making much sense, until it becomes word, something that conveys meaning. Anyone who has ever traveled to another country can appreciate the distinction. You hear people talking (they have a voice) but because you don’t know what the words mean there is no comprehension. Augustine’s point was, we need to come to understand and appreciate the Word and not simply hear the voice. That is what Mary did according to St. Luke: Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. There is a cliche, “Experience is the best teacher.” That is not exactly true. Reflection on experience is the best teach. The experience itself is just noise until we have “pondered them in our hearts” to discern what the Word of God is saying to us in the experience.
