Homily on Luke Chapter 11, v. 27 ff.

It is plain that this was a woman of great earnestness and faith. The Scribes and Pharisees were at that time both tempting and blaspheming the Lord. Whereas she alone, of all the company there present, so clearly grasped his incarnation, and so bravely confessed the same, that she confounded both the falsehoods of the dignitaries of that moment, and the faithlessness of the hereticks yet to come. For these Jews blasphemed the works of the Holy Ghost, and denied that the Lord was truly the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father, as did likewise the hereticks of a later day. Which latter denied that Mary was Ever-Virgin, and that, under the operation of the Holy Ghost, she gave of her own flesh and blood in bringing forth the human body of God. In consequence of which they did also deny that the Only-begotten of God was the true Son of Man consubstantial with his Mother.

Now if we shall say that the human body of the incarnate Word of God did not have its origin in the flesh of his Virgin Mother, there is no reason to bless the womb that bare him, and the paps which he hath sucked. But the Apostle saith: God sent forth his Son, made of a Woman, made under the Law. And foolish it is to try to make this passage read: Born of a Woman, made under the Law. Rather, it is truly said: Made of a woman: for he was conceived in a virgin's womb. This cannot mean that he took his flesh from nothing, nor that he took it elsewhere than from the flesh of his Mother. Otherwise he could not with truth be called the Son of Man, since he would have had no origin from mankind. Let us therefore, in condemnation of the heresy of Eutyches, lift up our voice with the Catholic Church, whereof this woman can be taken as a figure. And let us not only lift up our voice from the midst of the company, but let us lift up our hearts as well, and with the whole company of Catholic Christendom say unto the Saviour: Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. Blessed indeed is she, of whom one hath said: Hail, O Mother most holy, who didst give birth to the Monarch reigning o'er heaven and earth, world without end.

And the Saviour maketh answer: Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. How nobly doth the Saviour answer his Yea to the woman's blessing! How graciously doth he declare that not only is his Mother blessed but others also. His Mother saith he, is blessed in that she was meet to give bodily birth to the Word of God. But also all others are blessed who spiritually conceive this Word by the hearing of faith; and who keep the same through good works; that is, who carry it, and as it were travail and give birth to it; and who then carefully nurture it in their own hearts, and in the hearts of their neighbours. Yea, the Mother of God truly was blessed in that she gave flesh to the Word of God in time. But even more blessed was she in this, that through her love she keepeth that same Word for all eternity.