Reflection
In ancient times, it was assumed that riches, health, respect among peers, and obedient children (preferably sons) were a sure sign of God’s blessing. Ah yes, we’d all love to be “blessed” in that way. What if, instead, it’s a sure sign of God’s blessing when we open ourselves to God’s word and live by it? That’s much more difficult, because rather than passive reception that brings rewards, it demands something of us and it may have consequences.
In the past, I cringed reading how Jesus answered the woman who blessed the womb that bore him and the breasts that nursed him with “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” I feared that Jesus was dismissing his mother’s value. And yet, who more completely heard the word of God and observed it than Jesus’ mother Mary? Perhaps the issue is that the woman was centering God’s blessing in the past, and only on Mary, with no thought of the difficulties it brought into Mary’s life.
Perhaps rather than dismissing anyone, Jesus was broadening the blessing to include all people, even those in his audience that very day, who heard God’s word, took it into their hearts, and, just as his mother did, allowed it to change their lives.
And yes, that “blessing” of Mary brought many tough consequences, including, as Simeon predicted, a sword that pierced her heart. She became pregnant before marriage with all the implications of that in her time, parented a very unusual and precocious child without fully understanding him or his mission, watched and followed as her son was sometimes adored and sometimes misunderstood or rejected, watched helplessly as her son was scourged, tortured, and killed in the most horrific way, and accompanied the disciples as they were charged with spreading the good news of her son to the world while knowing it would bring persecution.
By extension, Mary’s blessing continues to be alive and active in our present time. Blessed are we when we silence our own voices enough to truly hear the word of God in all its depth of meaning. Blessed are we when we surrender our hearts and lives so we can enact that word in all we say and do, despite sometimes unforeseen and painful consequences. Blessed are we when, like Mary, we become open to listening, pondering, and acting on that word with strength and courage. Blessed are we when we follow Christ all the way to the cross, and then beyond. If we can be blessed in those ways, then we, too, can give birth to Godself in this world.
