Homily for Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/101307.shtml

Normally, when I give someone a compliment, I expect them to say thank you, not to correct my compliment. For example, if I would tell someone that they look beautiful today, I would not expect them to reply; rather, shouldn’t we say that the flowers are beautiful instead. Normally, it is rude to disregard a compliment, and in today’s Gospel, it at first seems rude that Jesus would not honor his mother by receiving a compliment on her behalf. But of course, just the opposite is true.

Jesus gives greater honor to His mother by revealing Her to be not only the descendant of Eve; one who gives life on this earth only. Jesus reveals his Mother as the new Eve; the mother of all those who will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Jesus in redirecting a compliment regarding the breasts that nursed him reminds us that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Jesus tells us how to love his mother, by reminding us that without the Annunciation, there would be no eternal significance to the womb that bore him and the breasts at which he nursed. But because Mary heard the word of God and observed it, She became the mother of us all. May Mary help us by her powerful intercession to be people humble enough to hear the word of God and to observe it, so that our lives may bear fruit that will remain.