Weekly HOMILY for January 1, 2010: Images of Active Silence

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Mother of God
Our Lady of Grace
January 1, 2010
Images of Active Silence
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was once traveling with a poor, uneducated farmer, who noticed that the abbot kept his eyes cast downward.

When the farmer asked why the saint wasn’t looking at the beautiful countryside, Bernard explained that he wanted to avoid distractions while praying.

In response, the farmer boasted, “I’m never distracted when I pray.” The saint objected, “I don’t believe it. Now let me make a deal with you. If you can say the Our Father without one distraction, I’ll give you this mule I’m riding. But if you don’t succeed, you must come with me and be a monk.”

The farmer thought it over for a while and finally agreed and began praying aloud confidently, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name...” Then, after pausing for moment, he asked St. Bernard, “Does the mule include the saddle and the bridle, too?”

I think we can all relate to that. And if we find ourselves fighting distractions when we try to pray, imagine what our interior chamber looks like when we’re not trying to pray!

On this Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, I’d like to ask, “How must our hearts be if we are to pray in a way that creates a transformation in us?”
How are we to be protected from distraction by the glitter and noise of a consumer society?

Mary’s Life

Without a doubt, our lives tend to be very noisy, distracted, rushed, and full of self-centered worries and self-absorbed preoccupations.

At any moment of the day, if we were able to take an x-ray of the inner chamber of our soul, it would probably look like a very messy basement or a very cluttered garage, with all sorts of ideas, desires, regrets, hopes, and half-cooked thoughts strewn about like dirty clothes, broken toys, and unread magazines.

But Mary’s “inner chamber,” if you will, was different.

She had a busy life as well. In fact without microwave oven, washing machine, telephone, and all the other modern timesaving devices, her life may have been busier than ours.

And yet, she kept that inner chamber neat and ordered. And as a result, she was able to hear the many gentle messages that God sent her through the daily events of her life.

As the Gospel tells us, “She kept all these things and reflected on them in her heart.”
Images of Active Silence

Perhaps Mary’s heart was like the smooth surface of a deep pond: clear and quiet, and able to reflect accurately the sky, the sun, and the trees. And when a rock was thrown into it, she absorbed it through deep reflection, and soon the momentary disturbance and ripples smoothed out, and she was back to clarity and light.

Or perhaps her heart was like the inside of a violin: well-shaped by her faith and love, uncluttered, and therefore always ready to receive the notes that God wanted to play on the strings of her daily life.

Or still again, perhaps her heart was like a perfectly constructed canoe: resilient and strong because of her self-mastery, but light and flexible, uncluttered with selfish worries and ambitions, and therefore able to receive God’s Word, to welcome it, and to continue moving easily through the stream of life.

What Image Speaks to You?

What image of Mary’s heart speaks to you in the midst of your distractions and challenges?

The smooth surface of a deep pond? The inside of a violin? Or a perfectly constructed canoe?

This was Mary’s interior life, the secret to her wisdom and St. Luke in the Gospel being able to say, “Mary kept all these things, and reflected on them in her heart.”

Whichever it is, it holds the possibility of you reflecting on the events of your life in this New Year with a new sense of purpose and the possibility of putting you in touch with the very presence of God as it did for Mary.