“Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God and pondered it in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Mary has given us many gifts. One is her fiat, or yes. Even though Mary did not fully understand what Gabriel was telling her regarding conceiving and giving birth to the Son of God, she trusted God and was willing to follow his will.
In today’s account of Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the temple, Mary offers us a second gift in how to respond when we don’t know or understand. She was understandably anxious about the whereabouts of Jesus. His response to her request of, “Why have you done this to us?” was “Why didn’t you know I was here in my Father’s house?” Not exactly a helpful response. Mary chose not to follow through on the anxiety she was feeling and react to but instead pondered Jesus’ words in her heart, and I believe she added a few long, slow, deep breaths as well.
For us today, when we find ourselves in places where we may not understand what is going on in our lives, when we don’t know what is going on with ourselves or others that we may deeply care for; when anxiety, worry, and fears begin to rise, let us follow the lead of Mary by trusting in God and making the time to ponder.
Our emotions are healthy and human. For Mary to be anxious is natural and shows the depth of her care and love for her missing Son. Yet, we need to remember that our emotions do not define us, and we are not to define ourselves by them.
As emotions arise, it is good to be aware of them, breath into them, and first and foremost, trust that God is with us to help us to interpret them and work our way through them in a healthy way. What usually knocks us off the rails is our past negative experiences. The wounds we have received by someone’s words, actions, and even negative thoughts that have been belittling, demeaning, and not respectful of our dignity.
When these emotions arise, we have a choice. We can feed them and allow them to grow and define us or we can stop and breathe. We can listen to Mary’s Immaculate Heart, and align our heartbeat with hers, whose heartbeat is aligned with her Son’s. The intensity of them will decrease. We are then better able to step back a bit to ponder why we reacted the way we did, explore why certain emotions arise, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal their root causes.
Healing takes time, and as long as we continue to trust in God, are patient, and continue to turn to him as soon as emotions rumble and thoughts begin to swirl, as well as allow for quieter times when they don’t, we will find healing and experience in the process of God’s continual and unconditional love. As we become less reactive, we will experience more peace and patience, and so our interactions with each other will improve and our relationships will heal as well.
The important thing to remember is who we are. Our emotions do not define us. God’s love does. We are his beloved daughter or son, and he is so pleased that each and everyone of us exists. Each one of us has dignity, value, and worth right from the get-go, as we are in this very moment. Any should have’s, thoughts of I am not good enough, or I can’t, or worse… renounce them in Jesus’ name.
You who are reading this at this moment are a wonderful gift to this worn and weary world. Continue to trust in God, Jesus, and Mary, receive and ponder the gift of their love for you, acknowledge and affirm for yourself often that you are loved and that you are valuable and a gift.
Photo: Icon of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa
Spiritual Stepping Stones 