The 9th Day of Christmas: Pondering (with) Mary

With the official Christmas celebrations over and people disposing of their decorations, we find time to continue our pilgrimage to the stable. This pilgrimage is after all, about birthing.

Friends and fellow travelers,

Blessings to you on this 9th Day of our Journey into the heart of Christmas. Here is your 9th gift of this journey. I hope you will find time to unwrap it tenderly. Let’s also extend a warm welcome to all who have joined our calm pilgrimage on the last day or two or who just now find the time to begin. You are welcome here. And you can find all previous letters in our 12 Days webspace space here.

The 12 Days of Christmas have become a treasured practice for me and our whole family. And though I lack some sleep, as I watch through the night as I have with our new born once, and with a sick little one the last 2 days (and who just called me back to her!), I feel more at peace than I have before. The greatest gift has probably been these silent dawning hours, as I write to you just before the sun rises. And I am not an early riser naturally!

I am grateful to all who are with us on this journey. We have grown to 250 pilgrims from across the globe, and I am grateful for each of you for traveling with us through this precious time. Some of you are carrying a heavy load through these days and I hope that our journey together can help to bring some consolation to every aching heart.

I am particularity grateful for all who have become supporters of this journey and who help keep it accessible to all. I have great hopes for the new year that this new path forward on a subscription platform will allow me to write more, to struggle with web design less, and to create a way to sustain this work. So thank you to all who have supported this new step by being here from the beginning, by sharing, recommending and subscribing to my writings.

That also means there is still time to share this journey with others, by forwarding this letter or by inviting others in, or, if you are a substacker yourself, by restacking, recommending etc. Thank you so much for helping grow this pilgrimage into a calm Christmas movement!

And as a special gift for all who have supported us from the start and who wish for some more opportunities to share I will offer on Jan 6 (just after we arrived on Epiphany Eve) a day of sharing and retreating. No zoom calls, no group pressure. Just a calm way to share your own gifts, writings, doodling, insights you gained on this journey with the community in a private setting.

I am looking forward to this possibility and I will let you know more over the next days.

But now, your gift for today:

Mary and Child. Ceramic. By Christel Koch, Germany

Pondering (with) Mary: Mary’s gaze

Many of you know by now, I have never been a Christmas kinda person in the traditional sense. I only arrive at Christmas when many already dispose of their decorations and are done with it. But birthing new life is rarely a birthday celebration. In fact it is a strenuous hike and a long labor, something which rarely makes it into Christmas sermons.

On the Third Christmas Day we pondered Hildegard of Bingen’s in depth reading of the nativity scene. Tomorrow I will go back to her readings to reveal how she names the new life birthed in that holy trinity.

But today we gaze at Mary. It is always Mary, again, who grabs my attention anew during the Christmas Days:

Mary, the soulful mother of all. Mary, who after the shepherd’s visit ”treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart”. Mary who said “Yes!” to Divine incarnation, who offered her heart and her life. Mary who proclaimed what we now call the Magnificat: how the mighty will be tossed from their thrones and the lowly raised up.

And so, today, we invite you into a quiet practice contemplating Mary. You can do so by looking at the image and coming back to it over the day. Or by setting aside a time of your choosing for a sacred reading practice now or later.

Some of our regulars are already familiar with this practice and also that it reveals new insights every time one does it again. And many of you are probably also familiar with Visio Divina, a form of the monastic Lectio Divina, a sacred reading practice, where we ponder a visual piece instead of a text. It is an intimate encounter with the artwork and the Spirit who speaks through it to you. It is your perception of the piece and what arrives in your heart when you ponder it (for more guidance you can refer to Chuck’s instructions at the bottom of this post - Visio Divina. A guided practice - and then return here to continue). The idea is to read/look/see with an open heart. This is today’s gift to you.

How ever you do it, here is my invitation:

Sacred reading / gazing

I especially invite you to look at Mary’s gaze. To share her gaze at the newborn child. And though I love philosophical reflection, today I ask you to use your other part of the brain, the part which feels fuzzy and warm at the sight of a newborn. Bring with it how you might feel and move along with your gaze, allow the looking to flow into feeling and the feeling flow into embodying what you see. Take some time in an undisturbed setting to do the gazing. Sit relaxed and settle your breathing. You might want to write down what comes to your heart.

Now: Gaze with Mary, gaze on Mary, gaze on the child, get lost in the gaze.

You can use these questions below as guidance, but do not let them distract your gaze. Stay with your eyes of the heart.

• What do you feel following Mary’s gaze?

• What arrives in your heart while looking?

• What draws you in? Mary’s eyes? The child? The embrace? Follow what draws you.

• Breath slowly and regularly while looking. Stay with your heart. With Mary. The child.

• What moves you deep within? Can you feel the embrace? Can you feel embraced?

• Can you see the child of God? Can you see yourself in the child of God? Held by Mary? Steeped in Divine origin? Can you be the child of God?

• Gaze with Mary on the child. Gaze with the child on Mary. Be Mary. Be the child.

• Is there a holy word you received sharing into Mary’s gaze?

Here is the one I received:

Be comforted.
child of God.
be embraced,
wondrous life.
begin to heal,
gazing heart.

And may Christmas find you where you are, Almut

PS: For all who wish further guidance with Visio Divina you can follow Chuck’s instructions below.

Visio Divina. A guided practice

Friends,

Visio Divina has a long history in the church going back to the Desert Elders in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. And it shares meditation methods found in many traditions. Our task today is to join this tradition and open our hearts to a message in Christel Koch’s Mary and Child that we might ponder in our hearts. To look with the eye of your heart, not to get lost in intellectual speculation, but to allow your inner gaze and conversation, your heart, to dwell on some message you might hear: what is its focus? how do you feel in response to it? what motivation to action comes with it? how do you accept its call?

Find a place where you can spend some time, at least 5 minutes, in quiet contemplation. Get some tea, light a candle, close the door or turn your chair. The movement of the meditation is to first spend some time looking, really looking, at the image. Then feeling your way into the image and into your response to it. Then to be open to what that looking means for you. And finally to ask what your response is or how the art is looking back at you.

So we begin:

1. Start with gentle centered breathing to clear your mind and heart.

2. Visio (vision): Look at the image slowly, paying gentle attention and welcoming it. See its larger composition and frame, and its smaller details. Notice the texture and color of the material, the expressions of people, and the arrangement of other figures. What do you find yourself drawn to? What do you like and not like? What are your initial thoughts? What feelings are evoked? Notice these responses without judgment. Return to seeing.

3. Meditatio (meditation): As you have reactions or thoughts, welcome them, even if they are negative.  What do they have to say to you? As you meditate, new thoughts, meanings, and feelings may arise; initial impressions may expand and deepen.  You may feel pulled into the scene in active imagination: You might want to sit beside Mary. You might see her as a women in a nearby park, or as a refugee in a camp, or as Mary in the stable of distant relatives in Bethlehem. You might visit her and feel the cold breeze of the camp or the heat of the desert wind on your face, or the damp smell of the animals. You might even speak with her, or ask to watch the baby for a while so she can take a nap.

4. Oratio (prayer): Open yourself to what the image and your response might reveal to you. No matter what your response is to the image -- delight, disgust, indifference, confusion -- ponder prayerfully the reason for your various responses and what these responses might mean for you. What does the image and the Spirit want to express to you as you attend to it in quiet meditation? How do the feelings, thoughts, desires, and meanings evoked by the image directly connected to your life?

5. Contemplatio (contemplation): Now that the image/text has spoken to you, prayerfully consider your response.  What desires and longings are evoked in your seeing? How do you find yourself wanting to respond to what you are experiencing? Respond to God in ways commensurate with your experience: gratitude, supplication, wonder, lament, confession, praise.

6. Finally, return to your breath for a few short moments of transition.

7. You might want to note down the message which has spoken to you this day through pondering Mary.
   
   And may the Mary of the stable and Magnificat be your guide today, Chuck

   

This post is part of our 12 Days of Christmas Series 2023/24: “Reclaiming Joy,” a Contemplative Journey towards the heart of Christmas. You can find all previous posts here. To subscribe or to upgrade your subscription click here. To share your thoughts with us, respond to this email or comment below.

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