He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” // Luke 11:28
I was one of the last of my friends to get married. As someone who longed for motherhood from the time she was a teenager, watching friend after friend enter into the Sacrament of Matrimony and then have children was challenging. It was hard to avoid the comparison game. It was hard to not feel like I was “behind” on the timeline I’d created. And it was hard not to fall into lies from Catholic influencers stating, “Your life doesn’t start until you begin living your vocation as wife and mother.”
The idolization of motherhood is a trap I’ve fallen into many times, both before and after having children of my own. Even within the Church, kids can become a status symbol, an indicator of who is a “good” Catholic and who is not. Motherhood has been twisted and misconstrued, and both secular and religious circles can fail to see it as gift.
So, it struck me right in between the eyes when Jesus’ response to the well-meaning woman in today’s Gospel, who is praising the Blessed Mother for mothering Him, is to gently correct her: “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Luke 11:27-28). It wasn’t Mary’s motherhood that made her blessed or prepared the place in Heaven for her to be Assumed into—the Solemnity we celebrate today.* It was her listening and observing the Word of God that made her a Saint and the woman God chose to bear Christ.
Physical motherhood is beautiful and can certainly be sanctifying, but it is not the only path to sainthood and we should not believe the lie that our lives do not begin until we take a vow—whether in marriage or religious life.
Our lives begin with Christ.
Sister, if you find yourself falling into idolization of motherhood or another state in life, I encourage you to turn to the Saints and read the lives of the diverse, holy men and women who are interceding for us as we strive to listen and observe the Word of God on our paths to Heaven.
*Don’t forget to go to Mass today! It is a Holy Day of Obligation for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Be a Woman of the Word
