“Blessed is the womb that bore you!”, Mary: Day 239

“Blessed is the womb that bore you!”

Pope St. John Paul II explains what to some is a puzzling remark of our Lord with regard to his mother.

The Gospel of Luke records the moment when “a woman in the crowd raised her voice” and said to Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” (Lk 11:27). These words were an expression of praise of Mary as Jesus’ mother according to the flesh. Probably the mother of Jesus was not personally known to this woman; in fact, when Jesus began his messianic activity, Mary did not accompany him but continued to remain at Nazareth. One could say that the words of that unknown woman in a way brought Mary out of her hiddenness.

Through these words, there flashed out in the midst of the crowd, at least for an instant, the gospel of Jesus’ infancy. This is the gospel in which Mary is present as the mother who conceives Jesus in her womb, gives him birth, and nurses him: the nursing mother referred to by the woman in the crowd. Thanks to this motherhood, Jesus, the Son of the Most High (see Lk 1:32), is a true Son of Man. He is “flesh,” like every other man; he is “the Word who became flesh” (see Jn 1:14). He is of the flesh and blood of Mary!

But to the blessing uttered by that woman upon her who was his mother according to the flesh, Jesus replies in a significant way: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk. 11:28). He wishes to divert attention from motherhood understood only as a fleshly bond, in order to direct it towards those mysterious bonds of the spirit which develop from hearing and keeping God’s word.
—Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Is Jesus actually dismissing the suggestion, as some would insist, that he has a special relationship with Mary? Or does his comment simply refocus the crowd’s attention on the criteria for discipleship that Mary so perfectly modeled?

CLOSING PRAYER
Mary, I will say to you with St. Elizabeth: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her” (Lk 1:45).

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