Readings: Gal 3:22-29; Ps 104:2-7; Lk 11:27-28.
Today’s Gospel text is one of the shortest readings in the Lectionary. Jesus’s commendation of course contains an irony which only the eyes of faith could consider. The woman who bore him in her womb, gave birth to and nursed Jesus at her breasts is pre-eminently the person who has heard the Word of God, preserved and put it into practice is Mary. The evangelist presents this through his portrait of Mary in the Infancy Narrative at the beginning of the Gospel. Her ‘Fiat’ – ‘let it be with me according to your word’ (in the New Revised Standard Version, 1:38) is the human foundation for the fulfilment of the promise 
to Abraham, to become the father of many nations. Influenced by his mentor Paul, Luke insists on the universality of the Gospel, that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [Jesus’s] name to all nations’ (Lk 24:47). The Synod on Synodality meeting in Rome at this time is a sign of participation in, communion with and mission of this vision of the church.
The Gospel text points to something more, ‘Still happier those’. This picks up on ‘the better part’ (Lk 10:42) that Jesus commended in the choice of another Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. This spurs us on to greater effort, not to make ourselves more worthy in God’s eyes but to let the grace of the Holy Spirit to continue changing us for the better. Deeper listening to God’s Word leads us on to a better, greater life even on earth. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) brings this out brilliantly: ‘Believing implies the duty of following of going where [Jesus] has gone before us. We ought never to be satisfied with ourselves, with our life, with our virtues…Saint Augustine says “If you say ‘enough, that is enough for me’, you are already lost”.[1]
[1] Co-Workers of the Truth, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), p. 317.
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