Blessings for All

Gospel: Luke 11: 27-28

It is a common belief, as found in this Gospel passage, to say that a person is blessed because of some quirk of fate or for some privilege afforded a person that no one else can achieve.  This woman in today's Gospel states that Jesus' mother is blessed for being the one to bear him and nurse him in this world.  Indeed, we have an entire cult of Mary that continues this idea of blessing that is rare, a gift only given to the very few.

But Jesus rejects this notion entirely.  He reorients the idea of blessing, saying that it is those who do God's will are the ones who are blessed.  It is not based on some random event or a privilege given to just a few.  It is, instead, something that everyone can acquire and earn.  Blessing is entirely understood by Jesus as something based on our actions and choices.  Every person can be blessed of God if we but choose to accept the will of God and carry it our in our lives.

Everyone has the ability to bear and bring forth Jesus into the world.  We do this every time we perform deeds of love and mercy to others as he did while on earth.  We do this when we extend healing to others, help them be liberated from their demons, and feed them in body and soul.  By these deeds we do God's will, by them we bring forth Jesus into the world again and again, by them we too become blessed by God.