BLEST INDEED

Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

Lk 11:27-28

With the Gospel today we can almost hear St. Augustine speak what he once wrote: “Mary is blest among women because she has first conceived the Word in her womb before she conceived It in her heart.” While being the mother of the Lord Jesus made Mary singularly privileged, her faithful and loving obedience to the will of God was what truly made her first among equals.

It seems that I often hear that woman in the Gospel who praised the womb that bore Jesus. People always tell me, “Ang suwerte-suwerte naman ng nanay mo, Father; may anak siyang pari” (“Your mother is so fortunate, Father; she has a priest-son”). Indeed, my mother – and all mothers of priests – are blest for having priest-sons, but still more blest are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Having a priest-son is not a guarantee in entering the Kingdom of Heaven; doing God’s will is.

Mary is truly blest because she is both the mother of the Word and the Word’s first and perfect disciple. Jesus did not disagree with that woman in the crowd who praised His mother; rather, He praised His mother even more, for she conceived Him in both her heart and her womb. The woman focused on Mary’s womb but failed to see Mary’s heart.

We will never have Mary’s womb. But we can have a heart like Mary’s.