Luke 11:27-28

Joel 4:12-21

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

Luke 11:27-28

While Jesus was speaking,

a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,

“Blessed is the womb that carried you

and the breasts at which you nursed.”

He replied, “Rather, blessed are those

who hear the word of God and observe it.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, bless me today as I hear your Word and strive to observe it. I am your child, and I desire your fatherly blessing with all my heart. Teach me to be an obedient child who seeks to please you in all that I do today.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Hearing and Observing the Word of God: Throughout the Gospels, Jesus teaches that he is inaugurating a new family of God and a New Covenant. Much attention was given in the Old Covenant to physical bloodlines. To be an Israelite, you needed to descend from one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The king and future Messiah could only come from the tribe of Judah and the line of David. Priests needed to descend from Aaron. The High Priest needed to descend from Zadok. The woman in the crowd represents the idea that divine blessing was attached to your bloodline. But Jesus teaches that, in the New Covenant, what counts is not your lineage, but your observance of the Word of God. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is blessed because she believed that what was spoken to her from the Lord would be fulfilled. Jesus is not rebutting Mary’s blessedness, but offering her faith, her welcoming of God’s word, and her observance as an example of those who are truly blessed by God.

2. The Valley of Jehoshaphat: In the First Reading, we read the conclusion of the Book of Joel. The book identifies the Valley of Jehoshaphat as the place of the Lord’s judgment. Historically, this place has been identified with the Kidron Valley, the ravine east of Jerusalem. But, since the name Jehoshaphat simply means, “the Lord has judged,” it is likely a reference to God’s judgment in general rather than a specific geographical location. What several Doctors of the Church have taught is that when the history of the world comes to an end, all human beings will rise and be judged. The righteous will rise with glorified and luminous bodies, while the wicked will rise with frightful and hideous bodies (see Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life 1, 14). Joel uses the image of a harvest as an image of judgment. Just as a farmer separates grain from the husks after the stalks have been sickled and gathered, so the righteous will be separated from the wicked.

3. The Darkening of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars: Another important image of the judgment in Joel and other prophets is the darkening of the sun, the moon, and the stars. In the ancient world, time was regulated by these heavenly bodies. The hours of the day were marked by the position of the sun. The moon regulates the monthly cycle of four weeks. The position of the stars marks the seasons of the year. The darkening of these heavenly bodies means, “Your time is up!” Prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Amos all invoked depictions of heavenly chaos to predict the judgment and downfall of pagan kingdoms. Jesus will redirect this same language, not toward a Gentile kingdom, but toward Jerusalem. “The kingdom of Old Covenant Israel will be devastated for corrupting itself like the pagans and rejecting Jesus” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 1771). And so, when Jesus predicts the darkening of the heavenly bodies (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25), he is pronouncing the end of the Old Jerusalem that occurred within a generation (within 40 years) in A.D. 70 (Mark 13:30). The end of Jerusalem, however, also points forward symbolically to the end of time, when new heavens and a new earth will be definitively established, when everyone will be judged, and when evil will be swallowed up. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have brought me into your family. I recognize that I need to learn from you how to be a better child of God and how to be a better sibling to my brothers and sisters. Guide me always along the path of true holiness.

Living the Word of God: How am I welcoming God’s Word? Do I let it inform my way of thinking, speaking, and acting? Am I looking at things in politics and the news from God’s wise perspective? How can I judge things as a child of God rather than a child of the world?