Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Denis, bishop & martyr,

& Companions, martyrs     St. John Leonardi, priest

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Joel 4:12-21

 Rise up, O peoples,

And come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, nations.  Bring a sickle for the harvest is ripe; come and tread for the winepress is full and the vats overflow, so great is their wickedness!

 Multitudes and more multitudes in the Valley of Verdict! The day of Yahweh is near in the Valley of Verdict!   The sun and the moon become dark, the stars lose their radiance.   Yah­weh roars from Zion and raises his voice from Jeru­salem; heaven and earth are shaken.

Indeed Yahweh is a refuge for his people, a strong­hold for the Israelites.   You will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be a holy place, and foreigners will never pass through there again.

 On that day the mountains shall drip wine and the hills flow with milk; all the streams of Judah will run with water and a fountain will spring from the House of Yahweh, and water the valley of Shittim.

 On the other hand, Egypt will be devastated and Edom will become a deserted wasteland because they committed violence against Judah, and shed innocent blood in their country. But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jeru­salem through all generations. And I shall avenge their blood and not leave it unpunished, for Yahweh dwells in Zion.

 

Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12

Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊     

Luke 11:27-28

 As Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to him, “Blessed is the one who bore you and nursed you!”   Jesus replied, “Surely blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it as well.”

 

 Gospel Reflection：

This statement of the woman, presumably herself a mother, is understandable. This is what a mother would think. Maternal pride springs from the feeling of fulfillment that her child grows up to be fine.

But this is precisely the earthly mind. Mary is not just blessed because she raised up a Son so fine that others sadmire Him later on. And Jesus points this out in the gospel today.

His mother is blessed because she is first docile to the word of God. before He became man in the womb of Mary, she conceived Him in her ears. Without her capacity to listenand obey God’s word, the salvation of humankind would have been in jeopardy.

That is why Jesus honors His mother today in a way that is beyond human appreciation. She is the hearer of the word par excellence who keeps them in her heart to ponder on them while she lived.