“Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed.”
She is not entirely wrong. Mary was chosen by God to be the womb the carried Jesus and the breast at which he nursed. That in itself was indeed a blessing already. But a greater blessing was the way she responded, with the grace she had been given, to hear the word of God, and to welcome it so completely into her heart that it found room within her to take on flesh. Because she observed the word from the angel she was able to observe the Word to whom her faith gave birth.
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Mary was not limited to the limited sense in which one who is related by blood to a great person is blessed. In such a case she would be identified with that relation only weakly, and could in fact be quite a contrary figure in heart and spirit. It was more important that she was related to Jesus by faith, because it was this faith genuinely heard, cherished, welcomed, and observed the Word who came to her, whereas mere relation provided no guarantee of this. It was her faith that truly identified and even conformed her to her son.
The truth that Jesus was trying to help the woman realize in today's Gospel was necessary to understand the Kingdom he came to establish. It would no longer be the case that the blessings promised to Abraham would be limited to those related to him by flesh and blood. Indeed the promise always indicated that the blessings would one day transcend this limit.
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” (see Galatians 3:7-8).
We are called to share in these blessings promised to Abraham. But this doesn't happen automatically, as if it would be enough to have the right parents, or to even go to the right Church. It doesn't even happen automatically after a single decision, or once we have been baptized and confirmed. It is rather an active response of faith that appropriates all the promised blessings for us and makes them real in our lives day to day.
In the new Jerusalem there are no strangers any longer for all have been made brothers and sisters by their faith in Christ. Together they share the new wine of the covenant. Together they drink the channels of Judah that flow with the water of the Holy Spirit. They sate themselves on the living water that issues from the fountain in the house of the LORD, that fountain who is Jesus himself.
Those who choose not to believe deprive themselves of these blessings, preferring instead to cling to the empty things of this world, to Egypt and to Edom. But those things have limits that are running down, and they shall finally come to nothing. Yet it is not the desire of Jesus that any be excluded from his Kingdom, nor any left to perish in the outer darkness. May we share that desire. May part of our response of faith be to express that desire in the sphere of our own lives.
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name.
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