Beauty

“As He said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But He said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11:27-28).

Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Unknown)

I have been thinking about how Christ treated His mother.

I have a mother and I am the mother of children and I must admit that sometimes I do not treat my mother they way that I should and my children certainly do not – at times – treat me the way that they should.  But, Christ is perfect – God and Man – and as PERFECTION He always treats His mother well.

And He does this with a broader understanding of mother than I could ever have.  He does this knowing what He as God the Father asked of her and what she as the Mother of God committed to providing for the whole human race.  He treats His mother understanding her true beauty as a soul – knowing that He loved her since the moment of creation as He always knew that He would create this wonderous creature who would be for humanity a path to salvation...

And that means that everything that Christ said to His mother recognised her beauty.

This idea initially struck me as odd when I reflected on the story in the Gospel…

“As He said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But He said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11:27-28).It seemed to me – at first – that Christ was ignoring His mother.  There was a woman in the crowd who was openly praising His mother for her role as mother.  She was adoring God by venerating the woman who gave birth to Him.  And there was God saying basically – I want you to venerate the person who heard the Word of God and kept it.  And initially that sounds like a bit of a slap in the face for His poor mother…  Until, of course, I stopped to think about it…

After all, it is true that the Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God and that God was born of her womb and suckled on her breasts, but what Christ is telling us, by His reply, is that God does not love the Blessed Virgin the most because she gave birth to Him.  He loves her the most because she heard the WORD of God and kept it.  He loves her the most – the most beautiful compliment He can think to give His mother, is that she heard the word of God and kept it.

And I have been thinking about this today.  Because I have been thinking about how this impacts my life.  You see, the most beautiful compliment God could give to the creation who He loves the most is not that she is His mother, but rather that she hears the word of God and obeys.

And when I stop and think about that, I am completely overcome.  For it seems that the Blessed Virgin is so much more wonderful than I could ever imagine.  It is not for her role as mother of God that she is most beautiful to God, but rather as His most faithful handmaid – hearing His word and keeping it.

And it seems to me that such an example is so far beyond what I could imagine that I cannot even begin to understand it…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.