A pondering heart

 

In celebrating Mary’s immaculate heart, we celebrate her singleheartedness.  Sin divides our heart between self and God, making us no longer single-hearted, no longer immaculate of heart.  But, as with any other time when we honor Mary, we run the risk of making her distant and inimitable, precisely as we mean to exalt her: congratulations, Mary, but we’re not in the same league.

So today I reflected on another dimension of Mary’s heart, a dimension that helps us realize that she’s very much in our league, a dimension that’s hinted at in Luke’s Gospel, namely, her pondering heart: his mother kept all these things in her heart (Luke 2:41-51).

Mary faced a number of situations she didn’t understand.  We’re told explicitly this much at the account of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), the visit of the shepherds to the stable at the Nativity (Luke 2:15-20), and when Mary and Joseph find the Child Jesus in the temple speaking with the elders (Luke 2:41-51).  Implicitly we’re told the same when she hears Simeon’s prediction (Luke 2:33-38), when her Son appears to be telling her at the Cana wedding this is none of our business (John 2:1-12), when she hears Jesus say who is my mother? (Matthew 12:46-50), and most of all at the foot of the cross (John 19:25-27).  But Mary kept moving on without understanding, pondering in her heart.

Her steadfastness, her singleheartedness was not based on external evidence, but on trust. Her pondering in her heart without understanding had led her to not needing to understand –how could a mother understand that her innocent Son is being cruelly executed?  Being sure and being assured are not the same thing.  Being sure speaks of understanding, which rests on evidence.  Being assured speaks of an inner stance, which rests on trust.  Mary was assured, even when she could not be sure.

Mary was steeped in a trust born of her pondering heart, her immaculate undivided heart.