Homily for Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

Being only two verses, today's Gospel must be one of the shortest readings in our Lectionary. This quick story of the exchange between Jesus and a nameless woman is told only by St. Luke.

Women have a more central place in Luke's Gospel than they do in the other Gospels. Of the four Evangelists, Luke offers the best balance between the male and female disciples of Jesus.

On this particular occasion, a woman was so impressed by Jesus that she suddenly praised His mother, whom she proclaimed to be blessed for carrying Jesus in her womb.

While we know that Jesus loved His mother, He used the woman's words as a chance to praise a much wider group. Even happier and more blessed than His mother are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Jesus' mother belonged to that broader group and heard and kept the Word of God more than anyone else.

Mary's blessedness is due to giving herself to hearing and doing God's Word. To that Word, her lifelong reply was, "May it be to me according to your word." [Luke 1:38] May we devote ourselves to hearing and doing God's Word, that we, too, may be blessed.