Lectio Divina
Jesus ponder my heart!
by Fr Jean Celestine Ngoma
The year 2024 is done, and the new year has come.
And so, in the quietness of this moment, I ask you Lord to reset my body and mind.
Still my soul to spend this time with you.
I want to review the year 2024 with gratitude and entrust to you the year 2025.
Let me now experience your presence using my five senses...
1. Lectio (Read)
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
(St Luke 2:15-21, ESVUK)
2. Meditatio (Reflect)
The three sacred words that caught my attention during my Lectio are “in haste,” “ponder,” and “praise.”
The refrain will be: Jesus ponder my heart!
In haste:
The angels hurriedly found Mary and Joseph. I note here a God-given mission can be paged to me in the busiest time of my life and I have to respond to it with haste.
Lord, why is it sometimes difficult to find an appropriate time to pray in my busy schedule?
Jesus ponder my heart!
Awareness through pondering:
I meditate upon ways to experience an ongoing awareness of Jesus in my life using Mary’s attitude in the text. It is actually the Lord Jesus Himself through His incarnation who made Mary treasure all those things that were happening to her, pondering them in her heart.
And so, Jesus gives me a way to pray in my busy scheduled life: pondering everything in my heart, not a constant self-examination that could lead to overthinking and anxiety but rather a pondering that is free from personal judgement and condemnation. A pondering sandwiched and fostered by a constant smile and joy leaving everything into the hands of the Potter who, thanks to the Holy Spirit, sanctifies and moulds us every day into the image of Christ.
The verb “ponder” implies to go beyond, to surpass, and excel. It also means to contribute, to partake. What are you telling me Lord? Does it mean that actively pondering your word makes me partaker of your Kingdom and receiver of your “grace upon grace”?
Pause
Mary’s "pondering everything in her heart" makes me thank God for all the wonderful gifts he has given me in the year 2024 and He expects me to go beyond, "Duc in altum" [St Luke 5:4], during the year 2025.
Jesus, I will Ponder now!
Praising God, giving thanks:
The Holy Spirit prays in us and makes us praise God, thanking him for what He is doing for us. It is the Holy Spirit who made the shepherds glorify and praise God for all they had heard and seen.
The Spirit sings in us with divinely inspired thanksgiving hymns. During our sung Holy Communion, together with angels and saints, in one chorus, we express our gratitude and acknowledgement to God who makes us partakers, as Mary, of the fullness of His grace.
Jesus ponder my heart!
Silence
While recalling back in my mind how God has been on my side during the year 2024, I also recognize how sins have somehow disrupted my ascension to Him.
The words of the just man in the scriptures echo in my mind:
Return to your rest my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:7.
I creatively repeat several times: I thank and praise my God for He has been good to me…
I once more thank him for the gift of God, for blessing my intellect, the soul’s power to understand his words in my life.
God, we thank You. Bless my will, the soul’s power to desire and act, so that I may do what pleases you.
Like Mary and Joseph, Let me go beyond the natural gifts You have given me. Let me go the extra mile beyond the prescribed or unexamined cultural traditions (Duc in altum) and walk a lifestyle worthy of You during this upcoming year 2025.
Jesus ponder my heart!
3. Oratorio (Ask and Respond)
Mary's unique circumstances make her motherly experience of the sacred somehow resemble my personal faith journey during the year 2024.
Pause
I ponder upon the moments during the year 2024 when I felt God’s presence and choose to do a short Ignatian Examen, by giving personal answers to a few questions.
Recalling back to my mind this past year:
Where has God been most present to me?
Was it something in nature? Or did I find God in a friend?
Have I felt your presence God while singing in our church?
I thought back to those moments, and prayed from them.
Pause
Jesus ponder my heart!
Exit meditation

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