The valuable spiritual exercises of keeping and pondering
January 9, 2022 at 5:52 a.m.
What does it mean to take stock of our lives? The process, which also means taking stock of time, is not always an easy one. Looking back can be painful. Evaluating mistakes in judgement, reliving challenging situations that were often out of our control, facing memories that we’d just as soon forget; these are all difficult to do. But not doing those things can also leave our blessings in the rear-view mirror.
It is part of the process when New Year resolutions are made, but, as Pope Francis suggests, it can also be a valuable spiritual exercise leading to a more mature Catholic faith. Our model, he says, is Mary.
In his New Year’s Day homily, Pope Francis shared the wisdom of Mary, who surely was familiar with the words of the psalmist, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” a prayer to help us be mindful of the gift of time and way we use it.
In the light of the Nativity, Pope Francis paints a picture of a young Mary, who, in taking stock of the challenging events of her young life since the Annunciation, chose quiet introspection. “How can she hold together the throne of a king and the lowly manger? How can she reconcile the glory of the Most High and the bitter poverty of a stable?” asked the Holy Father. The Gospel says, Mary “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (cf. Lk 2:19).
Mary’s practice of “keeping and pondering,” her pensiveness, “is the expression of a mature, adult faith, not a faith of beginners. Not a newborn faith, it is rather a faith that now gives birth. For spiritual fruitfulness is born of trials and testing,” observed Pope Francis.
“We hope that everything will be all right and then, like a bolt from the blue, an unexpected problem arises. Our expectations clash painfully with reality. That can also happen in the life of faith, when the joy of the Gospel is put to the test in troubling situations,” he reflected.
The Pope encourages us to reflect on Mary’s ability to bring together her different experiences, “finding the hidden threads that connect them. In her heart, in her prayer, she does exactly that: she binds together the beautiful things and the unpleasant things.”
For people of faith, the key to taking stock fruitfully is prayer. The daily habit of prayerfully walking through the events of each day, as well as at the end of the year, provides the opportunity to find even the small blessings of any moment. The fruit of this process is gratitude, and it allows those who practice it to live joyfully, from the heart, even in difficult situations.
As we look back over 2021, the stories highlighted in this issue’s In Focus take stock of events that taught us how to be, and how not to be, people of faith. In addition, we look ahead to 2022, keeping the lessons and blessings of the previous year in our hearts.
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What does it mean to take stock of our lives? The process, which also means taking stock of time, is not always an easy one. Looking back can be painful. Evaluating mistakes in judgement, reliving challenging situations that were often out of our control, facing memories that we’d just as soon forget; these are all difficult to do. But not doing those things can also leave our blessings in the rear-view mirror.
It is part of the process when New Year resolutions are made, but, as Pope Francis suggests, it can also be a valuable spiritual exercise leading to a more mature Catholic faith. Our model, he says, is Mary.
In his New Year’s Day homily, Pope Francis shared the wisdom of Mary, who surely was familiar with the words of the psalmist, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” a prayer to help us be mindful of the gift of time and way we use it.
In the light of the Nativity, Pope Francis paints a picture of a young Mary, who, in taking stock of the challenging events of her young life since the Annunciation, chose quiet introspection. “How can she hold together the throne of a king and the lowly manger? How can she reconcile the glory of the Most High and the bitter poverty of a stable?” asked the Holy Father. The Gospel says, Mary “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (cf. Lk 2:19).
Mary’s practice of “keeping and pondering,” her pensiveness, “is the expression of a mature, adult faith, not a faith of beginners. Not a newborn faith, it is rather a faith that now gives birth. For spiritual fruitfulness is born of trials and testing,” observed Pope Francis.
“We hope that everything will be all right and then, like a bolt from the blue, an unexpected problem arises. Our expectations clash painfully with reality. That can also happen in the life of faith, when the joy of the Gospel is put to the test in troubling situations,” he reflected.
The Pope encourages us to reflect on Mary’s ability to bring together her different experiences, “finding the hidden threads that connect them. In her heart, in her prayer, she does exactly that: she binds together the beautiful things and the unpleasant things.”
For people of faith, the key to taking stock fruitfully is prayer. The daily habit of prayerfully walking through the events of each day, as well as at the end of the year, provides the opportunity to find even the small blessings of any moment. The fruit of this process is gratitude, and it allows those who practice it to live joyfully, from the heart, even in difficult situations.
As we look back over 2021, the stories highlighted in this issue’s In Focus take stock of events that taught us how to be, and how not to be, people of faith. In addition, we look ahead to 2022, keeping the lessons and blessings of the previous year in our hearts.