Twenty-Seventh Saturday of Ordinary Time

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.”

We are blessed by God in many ways. Firstly, we are blessed with our lives, which God gave to us as a gift. However, we are also blessed in that we have the ability to freely choose to listen to the Word of God and observe it. It is this gift of a loving heart that we should be most thankful for. It is one of the things that sets us apart from other creatures. True love requires there to be a choice to love. Love cannot be forced, it must be freely given just as God gave us our lives without expectation of return of His Love. So too, our love must be without strings attached. Love is a freeing act, not a binding one. The union between two true loves is liberating in that both choose to give themselves completely to the other. They become one with another and thereby free themselves from the constraints of selfishness and instead bind themselves together in a common purpose: to love each other as they want to be loved. When we add our faith to this, then we take it a step further, we love each other as Jesus loves us and love God without reservation because we realize that it is only in uniting ourselves with God's Love that we can fulfill our vocation to know, love, and serve God and His children.

Do we thank God for giving us the gift of life? Do we listen to the Word of God and observe it? Do we love God and others as we are called to love them, freely and unselfishly?

O Lord, teach us how to love you and your children with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.

Amen.