PONDERING IN OUR HEARTS
SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON DECEMBER 28, 2008
Isaiah 6:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exult in my God.”
And so we come again to celebrate this wonderful festival of Christmas. I have a particular fondness for the Sunday after Christmas – because we can sing more of those wonderful carols, and we can once again celebrate with all the beauty of the Church and the Service. It’s like the Sunday after Easter – really one day is not enough. So we come again. It would be very tempting for me to preach about the Gospel today – that wonderful prologue of Saint John’s Gospel, with those wonderful words: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” and the subsequent reference to the Light coming into the world.
But I have chosen the Old Testament reading because at first sight it seems a little odd for Christmas Mass – what does it refer to? It was chosen in our lectionary because the theme is the Blessed Virgin. This text is often read at Votive Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The words of Isaiah are interpreted as words from the Blessed Virgin Mary herself: “My soul shall exult in my God” is similar to the words which begin the Magnificat: “My soul doth magnify the Lord”. The later image of a bride adorned with jewels also evokes Mary – as indeed does the final verse (62: 3): “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord”.
It is fitting that on this Sunday after Christmas we think of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and remember her ancient title “Mother of God”.
The Epistle also brings the Blessed Virgin Mary to mind with the well-known words from Galatians 3: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law”.
Although the Gospel does not mention the Blessed Virgin Mary, the beginning of John’s Gospel has those wonderful words: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” – and we reflect that it was her flesh he took.
Of course there is more to the Blessed Virgin Mary than just being the Mother of Jesus. She is a person in her own right. In Luke 2:19, at the end of his account of the birth of Jesus, St Luke says: “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart”. This is what we do every Christmas.
One example is in those familiar words of the well-known hymn by Bishop Phillip Brooks: “The dark night wakes, the glory breaks and Christmas comes once more”. Words which evoke both past Christmasses, and a new celebration that looks to the future.
The word for Mary’s pondering in Luke, sumballo, is a Greek word meaning “reflective meditation”. The Blessed Virgin Mary surely reflects deeply not only on the amazing reality that God has acted in and through her – but also upon the deeper mystery in the meaning of this amazing birth.
As she ponders in her heart, she, no doubt, moves from Isaiah’s prophecy, “My soul shall exult in my God”, to an understanding that, yes, In the fullness of time, God did send his Son, born of a woman – and that through this birth “the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us”.Mary pondered in her heart – and this pondering was more than just feeling good. For the heart is also the place of choosing. Her pondering leads her to embrace her vocation as Mother of God – which will lead to her standing at the foot of the Cross.
Mary pondered in her heart. She is thus not just the Mother of Christ, but the Mother of his body – the Church – and an image of the Church. For the Church is also called to reflect and live out the meaning of: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us”.
We should never stop remembering how wonderful is God’s love – particularly at our point of need – as revealed to us in Mary’s child at Bethlehem.
Saint John’s great prologue goes on to say: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not”. So the dark night wakes, and the glory breaks. This light is to shine in and through us – as it surely did in Mary.
So our pondering leads us to shine with the Light of Christ, and in so doing Christ is born in us.
“O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today!”