Luke 11: 27-28
While Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Faith is Our Lived Response to God
In our very short Gospel today Mary is indeed blessed for bearing and nurturing Christ in the flesh, as the woman in the crowd recognized. However, Jesus’ reply shifts the focus to the source of her blessedness: her faithful response to God’s word. She heard God’s word, trusted it, and allowed it to shape her life. That same path of blessedness is open to each of us. It’s one thing to speak about what you intend on doing with your faith, but it’s another thing to follow God’s call, to act on that faith. Jesus raises a simple yet important point to the crowd, and to us: actively following God takes more of an effort than just claiming to follow him.
Faith is not simply what we say to God. Faith is what our lives become in response to God.
—Jim Bozik is a permanent deacon and Associate for Pastoral Ministry at St. Peter Catholic Church, the Jesuit church in the Diocese of Charlotte, NC.
Prayer
Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night
I will go Lord, if You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart
—Lyrics From “Here I Am, Lord” by Dan Schutte