From: Luke 11:27-28

Responding to the Word of God

[27] As He (Jesus) 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!”
[28] But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep
it!”

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Commentary:

27-28. These words proclaim and praise the Blessed Virgin’s basic attitude of
soul. As the Second Vatican Council explains: “In the course of her Son’s prea-
ching she [Mary] received the words whereby, in extolling a Kingdom beyond the
concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and
kept the word of God (cf. Mark 3:35; Luke 11:27-28) as she was faithfully doing
(cf. Luke 2:19_51)” (”Lumen Gentium”, 58). Therefore, by replying in this way
Jesus is not rejecting the warm praise this good lady renders His Mother; He ac-
cepts it and goes further, explaining that Mary is blessed particularly because she
has been good and faithful in putting the word of God into practice. “It was a com-
plement to His Mother on her “fiat”, `be it done’ (Luke 1:38). She lived it sincerely,
unstintingly, fulfilling its every consequence, but never amid fanfare, rather in the
hidden and silent sacrifice of each day” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”,
177). See the note on Luke 1:34-38.

[Note on Luke 1:34-38 states:

34-38. Commenting on this passage John Paul II said: “`Virgo fidelis’, the faithful
irgin. What does this faithfulness of Mary mean? What are the dimensions of
this faithfulness? The first dimension is called search. Mary was faithful first of
all when she began, lovingly, to seek the deep sense of God’s plan in her and for
the world. `Quomodo fiet?’ How shall this be?, she asked the Angel of the An-
nunciation [...].”

“The second dimension of faithfulness is called reception, acceptance. The
`quomodo fiet?’ is changed, on Mary’s lips, to a `fiat’: Let it be done, I am ready,
I accept. This is the crucial moment of faithfulness, the moment in which man
perceives that he will never completely understand the `how’: that there are in
God’s plan more areas of mystery than of clarity; that is, however he may try, he
will never succeed in understanding it completely [...].”

“The third dimension of faithfulness is consistency to live in accordance with what
one believes; to adapt one’s own life to the object of one’s adherence. To accept
misunderstanding, persecutions, rather than a break between what one practises
and what one believes: this is consistency [...].”

“But all faithfulness must pass the most exacting test, that of duration. Therefore,
the fourth dimension of faithfulness is constancy. It is easy to be consistent for
a day or two. It isdifficult and important to be consistent for one’s whole life. It is
easy to be consistent in the hour of enthusiasm, it is difficult to be so in the hour
of tribulation. And only a consistency that laststhroughout the whole life can be
called faithfulness. Mary’s `fiat’ in the Annunciation finds its fullness in the silent
`fiat’ that she repeats at the foot of the Cross” (”Homily in Mexico City Cathedral”,
26 January 1979).]

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Mass Readings

First reading	Galatians 3:22 - 29 ©
Scripture makes no exceptions when it says that sin is master everywhere. In this way the promise can only be given through faith in Jesus Christ and can only be given to those who have this faith. Before faith came, we were allowed no freedom by the Law; we were being looked after till faith was revealed. The Law was to be our guardian until the Christ came and we could be justified by faith. Now that that time has come we are no longer under that guardian, and you are, all of you, sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Merely by belonging to Christ you are the posterity of Abraham, the heirs he was promised.

First reading

Scripture makes no exceptions when it says that sin is master everywhere. In this way the promise can only be given through faith in Jesus Christ and can only be given to those who have this faith.
Before faith came, we were allowed no freedom by the Law; we were being looked after till faith was revealed. The Law was to be our guardian until the Christ came and we could be justified by faith. Now that that time has come we are no longer under that guardian, and you are, all of you, sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Merely by belonging to Christ you are the posterity of Abraham, the heirs he was promised.

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 104

Gospel	Luke 11:27 - 28 ©
Now as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’