All Holy Vessel of Honor (II)

Mary's kinswoman Elizabeth, inspired by God, recognizes the young girl's uniqueness as she cries out: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed in the fruit of your womb!"(Lk 1:41-42). Again, Mary - unlike the other saints (...) - is "blessed" in life, from the first moment we see her, and not merely in death, having "died in the Lord." Mary herself testifies that this is only the beginning: "For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed" (Lk 1:48) - a statement that would have seemed unduly arrogant in the mouth of any other historical character. Very few people are remembered beyond their lifetime; hardly any are known after a thousand years. Yet the Bible itself has canonized the outlandish claim of this poor Nazarene village girl. Mary's blessedness - her beatitude - is not merely a peculiarity of Saint Luke's Gospel. It is in the Book of Revelation as well. At the dramatic climax of John's vision, he sees a "woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child" (Rev 12:1-2). The woman's son is a "male child...who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron" and is "caught up to God and to His throne" (V. 5). The child is clearly Jesus; so the radiant woman is His mother. We then see Mary crowned in heaven, bejewelled with cosmic lights, a blessing that is singular not only among women, but within the entire human race. And since it is heavenly it is everlasting. (...)