In today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, we see the exchange of Jesus and a woman who says to the Lord, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” But in his reply to the woman, Jesus provides an insight into his relationship with his mother, Mary, and the example she gives to all believers when he responds, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes that here, as in other places, we must be careful to understand what Jesus is telling us about his mother. We see places in the gospels where he seemingly does not speak highly of her when, in fact, the reverse is true. For example, he is approached and told: “Your mother is here, trying to see you,” and he answers, “Who is my mother?” Then, pointing to the people sitting around him, he says, “Those who hear the word of God and keep it are mother and brother and sister to me.” Is Jesus distancing himself from his mother here? No. He’s pointing out the fundamental link between them: among all the people in the gospels, Mary is the pre-eminent example of the one who hears and keeps the word of God. Looking at how Mary gave birth to Christ, we see that it’s not something that’s done in an instant. Faith, like biology, also relies on a process that has distinct, organic moments. What are these moments? What is the process by which we give birth to faith in the world? First, like Mary, we need to get pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We need to let the word take such root in us that it begins to become part of our actual flesh. Then, like any woman who’s pregnant, we have to lovingly gestate, nurture, and protect what is growing inside us until it’s sufficiently strong so that it can live on its own, outside us. Eventually, of course, we must give birth. What we have nurtured and grown inside of us must, when it is ready, be given birth outside. This will always be excruciatingly painful. There is no painless way to give birth. And in this, Mary wants imitation, not admiration: Our task too is to give birth to Christ. Mary is the paradigm for doing that. From her we get the pattern: Let the word of God take root and make you pregnant; gestate that by giving it the nourishing sustenance of your own life; submit to the pain that is demanded for it to be born to the outside; then spend years coaxing it from infancy to adulthood; and finally, during and after all of this, do some pondering, accept the pain of not understanding and of letting go.