“He has done all things well.”

(Please read today’s gospel, Mark 7:31-37)

The people make this proclamation after the healing of the deaf man.  We can say this every time things are going “well,” as it is put.  But do we say this when things are not going so “well?” 

Our Lady made her own proclamation in the Magnificat, during the scene of the Visitation before Christ’s birth.  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord… for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant.”  It makes me wonder if she continued this song of praise throughout her life, and that of Our Lord’s on earth.  Surely she could have felt the same way about the Miracle at Cana when the water turned into wine; but did she proclaim it when Jesus asked “Who is my mother?” and yet finished with “Whoever does the will of God…”  Further, was she proclaiming “the greatness of the Lord” at the foot of the cross?  We don’t know.  But we do know that, throughout the life of Our Lord, she “kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”  (cf. Luke 2:19)

Going back to what I was saying: do we say “He has done all things well” in every life circumstance?  Do we “ponder [these circumstances] in [our] heart?”