Readings for Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Jl 4:12-21
The Prophet Joel presents a view of the final judgment with all the people of all the nations of the earth brought to the Valley of Jehoshaphat or the “valley of decision.” The time of judgment is portrayed as a time of harvest, the iniquity of the world being ripe, ready to be crushed in the Lord’s grape press. God’s faithful, however, will be spared this fate “…Judah shall abide forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
This hymn rejoices in the supremacy of God the Father. The apocalyptic imagery links it to the vision of Joel in the first reading.
Gospel Lk 11:27-28
This short saying of Jesus is not a contradiction of the woman who blesses Mother Mary; rather it is an assertion by the Lord that the message is more important, in his eyes, than that biological relationship.
Reflection:
You are invited to imagine what it might have been like if you were transported back to the time when Jesus walked the earth as a man. See the woman who has watched the Lord cast out demons and cure the sick. Perhaps one of those cured was her own child, made whole by this holy man. We can see in this picture the gratitude and awe of the woman who, in a surge of love for the Lord, blurts out; “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”
The Lord must have looked at her with tenderness and compassion. It is his way, so intense is his love for all people. He must have see in her the faith that makes his work on earth possible and in a selfless act, supporting her faith he tells her, gently and consolingly, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
We know that Mary his mother was probably near by. She was likely in the vanguard of his disciples. Would these words have offended her? No, the Mother of our Lord would understand what her Son was saying to this woman. She would know that God’s Son would give the woman exactly the words she needed to hear to bring forth the Kingdom of God within her. How many times had she heard him say, after he had cured a sick child or had brought a person back from the shadow of death; “Your faith has cured you.”
No, Mary would have heard the woman’s blessing of her role in his mission of salvation and have been pleased, but her own humility would have been echoed in the words her Son gave the grateful woman. And does she not speak for all of us? His mission has not ended. He is still here with us, His Holy Spirit works miracles each day and each day we marvel at God’s creation.
Let our prayer today be a blessing on the womb that bore him and on the breasts that nursed him. Mary our Mother would certainly point to her Son and tell us “Blessed are you who hear the words of my Son and follow him.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used is Madonna Nursing by Albrecht Dürer, 1519
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 Jl 4:12-21
The Prophet Joel presents a view of the final judgment with all the people of all the nations of the earth brought to the Valley of Jehoshaphat or the “valley of decision.” The time of judgment is portrayed as a time of harvest, the iniquity of the world being ripe, ready to be crushed in the Lord’s grape press. God’s faithful, however, will be spared this fate “…Judah shall abide forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
This hymn rejoices in the supremacy of God the Father. The apocalyptic imagery links it to the vision of Joel in the first reading.
Gospel Lk 11:27-28
This short saying of Jesus is not a contradiction of the woman who blesses Mother Mary; rather it is an assertion by the Lord that the message is more important, in his eyes, than that biological relationship.
Reflection:
You are invited to imagine what it might have been like if you were transported back to the time when Jesus walked the earth as a man. See the woman who has watched the Lord cast out demons and cure the sick. Perhaps one of those cured was her own child, made whole by this holy man. We can see in this picture the gratitude and awe of the woman who, in a surge of love for the Lord, blurts out; “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”
The Lord must have looked at her with tenderness and compassion. It is his way, so intense is his love for all people. He must have see in her the faith that makes his work on earth possible and in a selfless act, supporting her faith he tells her, gently and consolingly, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
We know that Mary his mother was probably near by. She was likely in the vanguard of his disciples. Would these words have offended her? No, the Mother of our Lord would understand what her Son was saying to this woman. She would know that God’s Son would give the woman exactly the words she needed to hear to bring forth the Kingdom of God within her. How many times had she heard him say, after he had cured a sick child or had brought a person back from the shadow of death; “Your faith has cured you.”
No, Mary would have heard the woman’s blessing of her role in his mission of salvation and have been pleased, but her own humility would have been echoed in the words her Son gave the grateful woman. And does she not speak for all of us? His mission has not ended. He is still here with us, His Holy Spirit works miracles each day and each day we marvel at God’s creation.
Let our prayer today be a blessing on the womb that bore him and on the breasts that nursed him. Mary our Mother would certainly point to her Son and tell us “Blessed are you who hear the words of my Son and follow him.”
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used is Madonna Nursing by Albrecht Dürer, 1519
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