Tuesday in the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time

St. Augustine writes that “Mary is more blessed because of her act of faith than because she conceived the flesh of Christ.”1  

But why is her faith a greater blessing than conceiving the flesh of Jesus?  Because the very first sin, the original sin of Adam and Eve, was an act of disbelief in God’s word followed by disobedience.  They believed the word of Satan, “You will not die,” rather than the word of God, “You shall not eat the fruit nor touch it, or you shall die.”   By their disbelief they treated God as a liar and then they disobeyed.  First they died spiritually and later physically.     

Just as the Fall began by disbelief and disobedience, so also, the life of grace, conceiving Jesus in our souls begins with faith, with belief followed by thanksgiving expressed in obedience. The life of grace, sharing in God’s divine nature, is a greater blessing than conceiving the flesh of Jesus.  No one ever goes to heaven alone.  By faith we are all mothers, brothers, and sisters of Jesus in his mystical body, the family of God. 

  1. De virg. 3: PL 40, 398; and Catholic Catechism, ## 506, 507.