People can be categorized into two broad divisions: listeners and talkers. We all know certain people who are one or the other.

I want to examine these categories in terms of how we respond to new information. I will rename the "listeners" as "ponderers" and the "talkers" as "actors." Here is an example.

One weekend while attending a short course in Christianity, I sat at a table listening to talks. Years later a facilitator, who had been at the table, told me that he had been very concerned about me because I had just sat there listening while hardly talking. I explained to him that this was my normal way of doing things: first I pondered new information and then acted on it.

The point of this is that there must be a balance between pondering and acting. If the facilitator during that weekend had only seen me the first day, he would have concluded that I was only a ponderer. Shortly after that weekend, I became much more of an actor in the Church.

In todayís Gospel reading, we have two examples of how people responded to the news of God among them as the infant Jesus.

First, there were the shepherds. An angel had appeared to them and said, "in the city of David, a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord." The shepherds were obviously actors for they quickly "went in haste to Bethlehem" and "made known what they had heard." This would have required considerable faith on their part. If it had been me, I still would probably be out in the pasture among the sheep pondering what the angel had said. After seeing the infant Jesus, the shepherds werenít done acting, for they "returned, glorifying and praising God."

 Mary is the other example of how people responded to God among them as the infant Jesus. We just heard, "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Mary is like some of us who receive information and then ponder it so as to decide what to do next. But, Mary acts differently than most of us: first she says "yes," and then she ponders what it all means.

Even after saying "yes," this kind of message would have to be pondered for a long time because it is the first and last event of its kind. It is not a message that her more experienced friends or neighbors could have helped her understand.

In todayís Gospel reading, the shepherds told Mary what they had heard from an angel, i.e., from a messenger from God: "in the city of David, a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord." This further confirmed what Mary had heard herself. She now had more information to help her understand who Jesus is. Mary had to experience Jesus as the rest of us do: a little bit at a time.

Yes, Mary is the mother of God because Jesus is God. It took the early Church 400 years of pondering until this fact was affirmed at the Council of Ephesus in the year 431.

Therefore, we shouldnít be concerned if we donít understand everything about Christianity and Catholicism. Part of our religion is mystery, for God is beyond anything we will ever be able to comprehend.

In the meanwhile, we are all called to act on faith as did the shepherds and Mary. Like Mary, we also ponder these mysteries in our hearts. But at the same time, we are like the shepherds and are challenged to act on what we already have experienced.

God has acted by entering into our human history through Jesus. Now it is up to all of us to first ponder this Good News, but then to quickly act by telling it to others.