“Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed.”
This woman gave a simple summary of a limited way of understanding blessings. It was thought, for instance, that the blessings promised to the offspring of Abraham would go to those who were physically descended from Abraham. In such a world blessings would always be limited to specific people and nations. But Paul realized that, "it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham" and that, therefore, "those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith" (see Galatians 3:7, 9). It was to those who were similar to Abraham in their faith more so than in their blood that the promised blessings would be given. And because the only essential criterion was faith the blessings could transcend specific divisions of people and nations and be available to the whole world.
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free person,
there is not male and female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, who possessed the womb that carried him and the breasts at which he nursed, was indeed blessed. But she was not blessed merely because of this physical association with Jesus. She was more blessed because of her spiritual association with him, with the faith she exercised in response to the message of the archangel Gabriel. She heard the word of God, declared to her by Gabriel, and gave her assent of faith, her famous fiat, that was filled with so much spiritual power as to begin to undo the disobedience of Eve.
For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.- Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 22.
If we were to take comfort merely in our ancestry or our progeny, or any others merely because we were associated with them, we might feel some comfort, since it would in fact require nothing more from us than being in the right place at the right time. But this sort of association in itself was not enough.
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham (see Matthew 3:9).
We need more than a good network of family and relationships. We need to imitate the faith of Abraham and Mary who believed that God could do even that which seemed impossible, since "nothing will be impossible with God" (see Luke 1:37). Like Mary we should not only hear the word of God but also observe it, and even treasure it in our hearts as she did (see Luke 2:19). Then we too will belong to Christ and become "heirs according to the promise".
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