27th Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 9th October 2021 — Gospel: Lk 11,27-28
Mary’s Greatness
Jesus’ words and presence among the crowd moved a woman so deeply that she couldn’t hold back her joy and amazement, and so she cried out the beatitude of blessedness. It is an affirmation of truly extraordinary goodness and greatness of Jesus. Something about Jesus captured her heart and filled her soul with hope, joy, and love, so that it overflowed in this beautiful compliment. By proclaiming his mother blessed, she was proclaiming Jesus to be magnificent. But Jesus’ correction of this listener’s exclamation may strike as harsh. After all, the person who is referred is Mary. May be Jesus should have accepted the compliment more graciously in her honour. And yet, in pointing out the source of true and lasting blessedness, Jesus actually intensified the compliment given to his mother. Yes, Mary was blessed simply because of the gifts she was offered, but she achieved true blessedness by how she received those gifts: humbly, obediently, and courageously. Mary is the first and best Christian, the one who “heard God’s word and obeyed it” to an incomparably marvelous degree. She is the first of Christ’s followers and the one who can best teach us Christian discipleship.
