Homily for Saturday Devotional Mass: Blessed Virgin Mary, Pillar of Faith

 

Judith 13:14, 17-20

Ps 27: 1, 3-5

Lk 11:27-28

 

Christ the King Catholic Church, Iowa Park, TX

 

Our Gospel reading consists of a whole two verses this morning, but what deep profound truths those two verses reveal! Jesus had just driven out a demon from a person in the crowd to which he was speaking when a shout of praise rang out. It reminds me when people shout out ‘Hallelujah!’ or ‘Amen!’ or ‘Preach it!’ in the middle of a srmon or homily. In a sense, the woman who interrupted Jesus was fulfilling Mary’s own prophecy in her Magnificat recorded earlier in Luke’s Gospel: “For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.” (Lk 1:48)

However, Jesus responded that the fundamental reason that Mary is blessed, as Elizabeth proclaimed when Mary visited her, is Mary’s belief in the Lord’s message through the angel: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Lk 1:45)

Jesus replied to the woman with a beatitude that echoes Elizabeth’s, specifying her more basic reason for blessedness: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Lk 11:28)

Understand, my beloved Christians,  by replying in this way Jesus is not rejecting the warm praise this good lady rendered upon his Mother; rather, he accepted it and went further, explaining that Mary is blessed particularly because she has been good and faithful in putting the word of God into practice. I fully agree with St. Josemaría Escrivá writing on this verse: “It was a compliment to his Mother on her fiat, her ‘be it done’ (Lk 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 Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 172).

Indeed, Mary gave a model response to God’s word when the archangel Gabriel appeared to her at the Annunciation “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38) Thus she is the blessed Virgin Mary. The MOST blessed, in all of God’s bountiful and glorious creation.

Mary sets the example for all other disciples to follow on the way to beatitude: first hear the word and then act on it (see Lk 6:47; 8:21) She sets the ultimate example for us. To believe means far more than to simply acknowledge the existence of God and Jesus Christ as his Son. To believe means we consent to the will of God and entrust ourselves to Him. It means we observe everything He has taught us, whether in Sacred Scripture or in Sacred Tradition through his Holy Catholic Church. To be blessed like Mary, we have to give Christ our fiat like Mary. We do not pick and choose what to believe. We say yes to God and then follow Him where he leads us in the hidden and silent sacrifices of our daily lives.

Mother Mary, Pillar of Faith, Pray for Us!