👑 The liturgy celebrates the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Her life is a paradigm of faith and obedience. From her "Fiat" at the Annunciation, which inaugurated the mystery of the Incarnation, to her steadfast presence at the foot of the Cross, Mary uniquely cooperated in the work of Redemption. Her spiritual work consists in being the perfect model of the disciple who "hears the word of God and keeps it," becoming not only the physical mother of Christ but the first and most perfect Christian, Mother of the Church and intercessor for humanity.
Introit (- |Ps 44:2)
Hail, holy Mother, who in childbirth didst bring forth the King who ruleth heaven and earth for ever and ever. Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word; I speak my works to the King.
Reading (Sirach 24:14-16)
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.
Gradual
Blessed and venerable art thou, O Virgin Mary, who, without prejudice to thy virginity, didst become the Mother of the Savior. ℣. O Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world cannot contain, enclosed Himself in thy womb, being made man. Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. After childbirth, thou didst remain a virgin undefiled. O Mother of God, intercede for us. Alleluia.
Gospel (Luke 11:27-28)
At that time, as Jesus was speaking to the crowds, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the breasts that gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.
🏛️ Mary was more blessed in receiving faith in Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ, for her maternal closeness would have been of no profit to her if she had not considered herself more fortunate to bear Him in her heart than in her womb (St. Augustine, On Holy Virginity, 3). That woman proclaimed the happiness of the womb, but the Lord points to the greater fruit of the soul, for it is not flesh and blood that make one blessed, but the faith that is received and piously kept (St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, VII, 27). Indeed, by saying "be it done unto me according to thy word," she conceived Him first in her mind than in her womb, becoming the cause of our salvation through her obedience, unlike Eve, who through disobedience brought ruin (St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III, 22, 4).
✝️ While the Gospel of Luke focuses on the blessing of physical maternity redirected toward obedience to the Word, Matthew (12:46-50) and Mark (3:31-35) present a similar episode where Jesus defines his spiritual family as "whoever does the will of my Father in heaven," specifying the criterion for blessedness. The Gospel of John complements this uniquely, showing Mary's proactive faith at the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11), which leads to the first miracle, and, in a culminating manner, at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25-27), where Jesus establishes her as the Mother of the beloved disciple, extending her maternity to the entire Church and revealing the fullness of her vocation.
✉️ Saint Paul does not narrate the life of Jesus, but theologically deepens the mystery of the Incarnation. In Galatians (4:4), he concisely affirms what the Gospel celebrates: "when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman," highlighting the real insertion of Christ into human history through Mary. The antiphon about "He whom the whole world cannot contain" finds its theological echo in the hymn of Philippians (2:7), which describes the Son who "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." Furthermore, Jesus' emphasis on "keeping the Word" as true blessedness aligns with the Pauline teaching on faith working through love (Gal 5:6) and the obedience of faith (Rom 1:5) as the criterion for the new life in Christ.
🔑 Church documents solidify the veneration expressed in the liturgy. The Council of Ephesus (431) dogmatically defined Mary as Theotokos (God-bearer), giving the highest theological sanction to the acclamation "Blessed is the womb that bore Thee." The Lateran Synod (649) affirmed her perpetual virginity, echoing the Gradual that sings of her as a Virgin "before, during, and after childbirth." In a culminating way, the Bull Ineffabilis Deus (1854) of Pope Pius IX, in defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, illuminates the text from Sirach ("from the beginning... was I created") and Mary's very blessedness, by declaring that she, "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin."
