"...she pondered all these things in her heart..."

…she pondered all these things in her heart…

Carla Mae Streeter, OP

What was Mary, the Mother of Jesus, thinking about in the time after her son’s resurrection? Was she marveling at how things had turned out? Was she learning from those dark days when the temptation to lose trust in God was so strong? Was she knitting everything together with one “Aha!” moment after another?

First, there he was, her beautiful son, alive…wounds shining. Did she sense that he was no longer just “hers”? Did she realize that he was not just for the Jews, not just for any group anymore? That he belonged to the whole world now?

Did she understand that of course he would return to his Father, taking our humanness with him to prepare for all of us to follow? Did she grasp that the Spirit of God that overshadowed her was now loose in the world, forming bonds between people? Is this what she was thinking about?

What are we thinking about? We began our Paschal Mystery in the darkness of Holy Saturday night. We were led back to the baptismal font to remember where we died with him and put on our new life, our baptismal robe of joys and grief, of failures and heroic decisions. Then we walked with him as he opened up his very body and cleansed us in his own blood. Death thought it had silenced him for good, but up he came and danced on its head, freeing those long waiting for him, and whisking them off into their own resurrections. Then he leaves us, telling us it is necessary that he go so that we learn to live by the faith the Spirit will provide. From that open heart of his, he breathes his own Spirit into us to complete our walk here, a walk of peace-making and mercy. The fifty days of Easter, to top the forty days of Lent. Will wonders never cease!

Risen Jesus,

we are entering the Mary-month of May,

the month of your Mother.

No one grasped the wonder and beauty

of your Paschal Mystery

as did she who pondered all things in her heart.

Mother, teach us to ponder the wonders of your son!

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Special thanks to associate Shirley Talbot for these reflections

May 1 – 6^th Sunday of Easter – Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8 – Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 – John 14:23-29

In the earliest gatherings of the church, people misunderstood each other and misunderstood God. Paul was among those sent to speak and to clarify. We are still speaking and clarifying. Until that day when Jesus will be our light in the New Jerusalem, we listen to each other, love each other, let God’s Spirit teach us, and rely on the peace given to us as Jesus went to intercede for us before God’s throne. Today may our words be couched in love like a bouquet of spring flowers tucked in a basket on our neighbor’s doorstep.

May 8 – Ascension Sunday – Psalm 97 – Acts 7:55-60
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 – John 17:20-26

Even words spoken in truth and love are not always well-received. How often did we respond with anger to our mothers’ words of truth and love? The light shining brightly makes shadows more visible. “Come!” Jesus cried. “Come take the water of life!” Jesus prayed for us… that we might be one… with God… with each other. Children at heart, we draw back from the light that makes shadows so plain. Today lift us over our fear and give us enough light to see by as we speak and listen to words of truth and love, especially to those who have mothered us.

May 15 – Pentecost Sunday – Psalm 104 – Acts 2:1-11
1Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 – John 20:19-23

There are people who continue the worship style described in that Upper Room on Pentecost Sunday. As Jesus was born during a time of enforced taxation and travel, surrounded with chaos, so God’s Spirit descended with wind, flames and chaos where people saw and heard things they couldn’t understand. Into the midst of our chaos God comes bringing peace that we cannot understand. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

May 22 – The Holy Trinity – Psalm 8 – Proverbs 8:22-31
Romans 5:1-5 – John 16:12-15

Wait a minute…God from God? Fully God and Fully Man? Wait a minute! Pastoral care was born in the heart of God as God sprang from God before the world was made. God pastored God. God encountered need and met need. God loved and was loved. This Glory of God now comes to us and is ours. What is this human being that God should be mindful of them, the offspring of such that God should care?

May 29 – The Body and Blood of Christ – Psalm 117 – 1Kings 8:41-43
Galatians 1:2,6-10 – Luke 7:1-10

Abram, before promises fulfilled, returned with thanks and was blessed. Bread and wine blessed to God again in the hands of Jesus. Blessed in Jesus’ hands loaves and fishes, thousands fed by the hands of Jesus’ followers.  Surrounded by the hungry now we lift our hands, God still blessing, we too return with thanks.