Thoughts on the Visit of the Shepherds

In Luke’s Gospel, after the shepherds come to see Jesus and tell everyone what they had been told by the angels, Luke says that “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (KJV: Luke 2: 19).

I was thinking about the birth of my own children. Seeing the birth of a baby, especially your own, instills a huge sense of wonder.

Mary had even more reasons for wonder. The angel Gabriel had previously told her that she would conceive through the Holy Spirit and bear the Son of Go...