Pondering like Mary

“And Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

During his homily this Christmas Eve, our priest invited us to take time to ponder the great gift of Emmanuel, God with us. Ponder is a beautifully rich word. It means to hold onto a thought, to consider it, reflect on it, allow it grow in our minds so that we can begin to see the thoughts full significance. Pondering God’s word involves keeping it in our hearts and considering it often. Throughout the day, as we do our daily tasks, we need to keep God, his work and his word, in mind to encourage, direct, and form us.

This can be challenging to do, because often our minds are filled with so many other thoughts that there is little room for God’s word to be rooted and not enough quiet for us to truly ponder his truths. Keeping things in our heart, pondering them as Mary did, does not just happen. It involves practice, discipline, and patience as we grow in this ability.

St. Paul writes of taking captive every thought out of obedience to Christ (2 Cor 10:5). This is a good habit to develop in order to learn to ponder well. Not every thought that crosses our mind deserves to be there. Some thoughts are lies from the devil, some are the results of the media we consume or the conversations we engage in, some are necessary for our work, vocation, or mission, while others may be habits of thought that we’ve held on to unexamined for years. When a thought crosses your mind, take the time to pause and exam it. Is it true? Does it serve a purpose? Obviously, it would be exhausting, and probably impossible, to do this with every thought but it is good to do with those thoughts that are persistent, that seem to take up a lot of mental energy. We might find that there are ideas, beliefs, concepts that we can ask the Lord to uproot in order to make more room for his word.

Another habit that is essential to pondering is taking time for quiet. As I said above, it is good to consider God’s word throughout our day, but in order to do that we must first take time to listen to it and let it sink in and this means having dedicated times of quiet. We cannot ponder an idea, a mystery, a truth of God, without first taking the time to be become acquainted with the idea. If I want to follow the exhortation given on Christmas Eve to ponder Emmanuel, I must first take some time to consider what is meant by the name Emmanuel, God with us. Having done that, I can then allow the wonderous idea of God being with us to fill up my mind and shape me throughout the day.

Lastly, we must know what to ponder. Mary was attentive to the Lord, and she pondered the words of the shepherds that God sent to her. What is God asking you to ponder? Is it, like me, Emmanuel? Our faith is full of beautiful, stunning mysteries. Scripture, the word of God, is rich and inexhaustible. Often God speaks to us though others, as he did to Mary through her cousin Elizabeth and the shepherds. Sometimes a song lyric or a line from spiritual reading sticks out and strikes a chord. Be attentive to those things. Take some time to ask God what it is he wants you to consider today, and then imitate Mary by taking that word, keeping it in your heart, and pondering it.