Today's Readings (Vigil Mass)
(Audio)
“Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed.”
She was indeed blessed, but it went deep than they suspected. Mary wasn't blessed merely on the basis of blood relation to Jesus her son. Rather, she was blessed because she had been chosen by God, and having been chosen, consented to his will. We have seen that others had seemingly been chosen, but did not consent, which was not enough. An example of suchlike was Ahaz who said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test" (see Isaiah 7:11). But this only delayed and did not prevent God's plan. Because of it the promise was given through Isaiah that "the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (see Isaiah 7:14). When Mary was invited to be the virgin through whom Immanuel would be given to the world she did ask for clarification, but she did not doubt or deny God's will. Instead she gave her famous fiat, saying "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" in response to the words of the angel (see Luke 1:38). Therefore the blessing with which she was blessed was about something more than was normally entailed in the conception of a child. She was so open to the word of God in her life that the word of God was conceived and took on flesh within her. We can imagine that this openness to the Spirit that marked the birth of the child would have defined her entire relationship to him as he grew and matured. Therefore it was not only the amazing and commendable things done by a normal parent that she did for Jesus. She would also have raised him in response to the movements of the Spirit. After all, had she obeyed only long enough to give birth to the child that would not have created the situation Elizabeth described in which all generations would call her blessed. She never turned aside from the way of obedience, though it was probably the most pronounced in her response to Gabriel.
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
Mary had always been a kind of first-fruits, sharing in that which Jesus won for the world as an archetypal example of what the Church could be if she gave her whole heart to God. This was why she was permitted to share in the redemptive grace of Jesus from the moment of her conception. It was revealed when she lived out her entire life without a sin of any kind. She even demonstrated our hope of bodily resurrection and life forever together with Jesus through her being assumed body and soul into heaven. We are meant to follow her example in giving our whole hearts to God, to rejecting every enticement to sin, so that we too may eventually experience the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.
“Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it.”
The blessings with which Mary was blessed were not intended for her alone. God blessed specific individuals in powerful ways so that their blessings could overflow for others. Just as he had done through Israel, so now through Mary does the world receive immense light and grace. She gives us the example of her own obedience and then invites us to follow her example. But she does not simply leave us to our own devices after offering instruction and demonstrating the promise. Rather, her motherly care, raising children in the school of the Spirit, has never ceased. There is no more powerful intercession on our behalf than that which she continues to provide. Through obedience we become her true children and the word of God is formed within us, as it first was in her.
the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (see Revelation 12:17).
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