Truest blessing

After our Lord's sweeping response to the slander of the Pharisees and the murmuring of the sign-seekers, a woman in the crowd cries out, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!" Christ does not deny the truth of it, but he points to a greater blessing still: "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Here we simply consider what the woman heard the provoked her cry, what she said, and how Christ responded with a benediction of his own.