5/27/23

Pause for Prayer: SATURDAY 5/27

 
                              
Art by Pietro Annigoni
 
May is a month of special devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. On the Saturdays of May, Pause for Prayer will focus on Mary. The scriptures tell us that Mary was with the apostles and others in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came down upon them at Pentecost.  What memories might have been stirring in Mary's mind as the Holy Spirit (by whom she had conceived Jesus) once again came upon her and the others with the wind, fire and power of the most high God.  Mary's memories of her son's life...  Luke's gospel tells us "she kept all these, reflecting on them in her heart..."

Who could know all you kept, Mary,
   all you held, all you pondered in your heart?
Only a mother, I think, might know the joys,
   the hopes and fears and dreams,
     the bonds that bound your soul in love
        to the child of your womb... 

As he grew  you watched
    and saw the man be came to be,
        and you took pride and joy in him, your own;
as you watched to see the friends he chose,
   as you listened to his words 
        and wondered at his wisdom,
was there room enough within your heart 
    to store your love for him, 
        your faith in what he'd come to do?

And in those last few years and in his final days
   when you saw where his path led,
did the simple joys of years before 
    suffice to soothe the ache, 
        the pain you held within,
    as you watched and saw his suffering,
        the pain he bore for all of us?

Like your heart, Mary, mine too, fills and overflows
    as I keep and hold and ponder 
        all the joys and all the sorrows
    I gather day to day, month by month
        and year to year...

Whatever my heart carries
    I know your Son will reach 
        to lift me up and keep me safe,         
    to ease the burdens on my soul
            and heal my wounded heart 
                with his mercy and his grace...

O Mary, you held, you kept 
    so much within your heart
where you carried Christ within you,
    where he found a place to dwell;
 help me make a place in my heart, too,
    where Christ can come
        to mend my broken spirit
        and heal my wounded soul...
 
Lord...
    help me treasure in my own heart
        all your Mother kept in hers:
    all the burdens and the blessings,
        all the sorrows and the joys 
    where you come with peace to meet me,
        where my life is one with yours...

Amen.

 
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