Lent, Day 6: Blessed is the fruit of your womb.

After the baby leaps in her womb, Elizabeth herself greets the Mother of our Lord, the first of myriads upon myriads to say "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb." Mary receives not enough attention among my fellow Protestants, she who was the first to receive Christ by faith and to bring him into being – she in this way is not only the mother of God but also our mother in faith (cf. 1 Cor 4:15 for the precedent of parental language).


Today, though, I want to focus on Elizabeth's statement about Mary's baby. Can you imagine an expectant mother saying to another expectant mother, your child is blessed above my own? However, Elizabeth does not lesson her love for her son by recognizing the greatness of Mary's child. Rather, when our love for the Lord is foremost, all our other loves are elevated. Indeed, John's life finds its meaning in the Lord, as do all our lives and the lives of our most cherished loved ones.


And the Lord is worthy of our devotion since he faithfully redeems what we surrender to him, whether it is ourselves, our children or our world entire.