“King David in Prayer (detail)” by Pieter de Grebber
As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28)
Jesus loves His Mother more than any of us are capable of loving her! According to her Magnificat, all generations will call her blessed. And here is a woman doing just that—telling Mary’s Son how blessed Mary is to have borne the Divine Child. In His reply, Jesus does not downplay the blessedness of Mary—far from it. Instead, Jesus points out the true reason for Mary’s beatitude… her humble surrender and fiat to God. Who more than Mary has ever heard the Word of God and kept it?
How I wish I could more fully embrace this truth! After all, most of us do the things we do and make the choices we make, because we believe we will benefit from have done so. But, Jesus tells us the Truth! Our greatest blessedness comes from conforming our lives to His Will. Nothing else we do can have as wonderful a consequence for us as doing His Will.
Lord, show me the ways this day that I will “hear the word of God and keep it.”
