Mary Treasured All These Things, Pondering Them In Her Heart

By Fr. Christopher Foeckler, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

“When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go then to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So, they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” Lk 2 15-19

Did it ever occur to you that, not only should we be grateful to the Blessed Virgin Mary for giving birth to the Son of God, the Savior of mankind as the angel described Him to the shepherds, but grateful, too, that like a good mother she stored up all the details of her special son’s birth in her heart to share later with Matthew and Luke? For, thanks to her recollections in the respective gospels, we enjoy an exceptional number of details around the birth of Jesus Christ including the message of great joy to the shepherds and the glorious lyrics of the angelic choir. 

Through our Lady’s cooperation with God’s plan of redemption, conceiving of the Holy Spirit and bringing forth her first born son, our encounter with the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth is enriched and made more joyous with the song of the angels and all that the shepherds had to say. 

This actually gives us a clearer insight into the value of our devotion to Mary since the main principle of the Incarnation – the very reason that the Son of God became like us men in all things except sin – was so that we men might become like Him, sharing in His Divine Nature. As St. Leo put it succinctly: “God became man so that man could become God.” And who better to help us to become like Him, to act like Him and to learn from Him, than His very own Mother who treasured all the things that happened in His life and pondered them continually in her heart. Pope St. John Paul II wrote in Rosary of the Virgin Mary that, when we meditate on the mysteries of the rosary, we are “transported mystically” to the side of Mary in Nazareth as she watched over the human formation of her son, Jesus, and will watch over our formation into Christ her son as we pray. 

May our Savior Jesus Christ born of Mary give peace and joy to all of our readers. Merry Christmas to all!