Today I’d like to elaborate on Mary as contemplative presence. When we contemplate something we ‘look’ at it and we consider it. But the deeper dimension of contemplation is to look at something in the mindset of meditation. It really is a form of ‘concentration’, of interior visioning. It is not so much led by the rational mind but by the calm spirit of reflection.
The rational mind throws up pictures and tries to ‘figure’ things out. The word contemplation is related to the idea of looking at a template. The template is a form. The contemplative looks at templates of Good, Truth and Beauty, for example. By keeping the focus on those patterns these begin to manifest in our lives.
It is said of Mary in scripture that she kept silence and contemplated these matters in her heart. She gave birth to a seed that came from God, so the story goes. Instead of rationalizing this out she contemplated, in faith, what the angel said to her. She focused on the pattern. She did not get led astray by trying to ‘figure out’ how this could be.
So the role of Mary continues to be that of holding the template of Good, Truth and Beauty in view and thereby making it easier for each of us to begin to focus on higher matters rather than on the small aspects of the life we are living.
She is a contemplative ‘presence’ in that she is very much part of the culture of higher consciousness that each of us is meant to come into. This presence of Mary holds the truth while we go through our issues and come to have a desire for Higher things.
So much for today!
Peace
Norm