Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. — 21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Mary treasured the words of the shepherds and pondered them in her heart. What words? The message of the angel to the shepherds was that the Messiah, the Christ, was born this day in Bethlehem. These words, that amazed all who heard them, were treasured by Mary because they brought deep comfort to her.

Mary must have known since the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel informed her that she was to bear the Messiah, that Jesus would be no ordinary child. But through the months while she was expecting, the journey down to Bethlehem, and the difficult circumstances of Jesus’ birth in the stable, she must have been tempted to question what it all meant. So, when the shepherds came with their message of joy, it must have been a great confirmation, and consolation, to Mary.

The rest of us have not been chosen to be the Mother of God, but we are a chosen people. We all have a part to play in the Kingdom, and most of us can probably point to moments in our lives when we’ve had some sense of God’s call. For some this may have been a very specific, even dramatic, event; for others it may just have been a gradual sense that a particular path in life seems right. But for everyone, these favoured moments or seasons of clarity do not endure. We all pass through times of darkness and doubt, when we are tempted to question the call, to wonder if we imagined it.

At such times it is a great comfort to receive some word of consolation, some confirmation that, despite appearances, that previous call was real. When we receive such consolations let’s be sure to ponder them in our hearts, like Mary, for they are reminders of the only treasure that endures.