“The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘. . . I will be with you and will bless you’” (Gn 26:2-3). Since the time of the patriarchs, God’s blessing has gone hand in hand with his presence, with Emmanuel. This was the blessing for which God made man and woman in the first place. To be sure, God blessed other parts of his creation as well. God blessed the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens (Gn 1:22). God blessed the sabbath (Gn 2:3). But only man and woman did he bless by dwelling within their hearts by grace.

Mary is blessed among all women because God came to be with her in a unique way. She was the first to dwell with God in his sacred humanity, which he received precisely from her. She was also the first to dwell continually with God in the fullness of grace, unimpeded by the least stain of sin. Both kinds of presence were a blessing, but the latter even more so than the former:

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.” (Lk 11:27-28)

The Lord was with Mary and blessed her, but her blessing was not only for her own benefit. The one blessed becomes an instrument of blessing. God’s blessing came to rest on Isaac because it had first come to rest on Abraham, his father (Gn 12:2). Isaac in turn blessed his son Jacob (Gn 27), who could in turn say, “the God of my father has been with me” (Gn 31:5). The blessing of God’s presence could only come from God himself, but this blessing nevertheless passed through a family: Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, and Jacob to his sons. 

So too is Mary, our mother, a source of blessing for her children. She gave birth to Emmanuel so that all of us might receive in him “every spiritual blessing in the heavens” (Eph 1:3). She cannot, of course, share the unique blessing of carrying Jesus in her womb. She can, however, help us by her prayers to enjoy the presence of Emmanuel ever more deeply in our hearts. Mary, blessed among women, pray for us, that the Lord may be with us as he is with thee.

✠

Image: Bernardino Luini, The Virgin and Child