Saturday 27th week in ordinary time

"Lk 11:27-28"

As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!" But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

The most beautiful thing ever said of Our Lady was what Jesus said of her: she was always ready to hear the Word of God, to keep it and follow it. It was in prayer that Mary heard the Word of God, His Will for her; there she got the grace she needed to carry it out. 'Prayer': the best way to make decisions in our lives. "Never make a decision without stopping to consider the matter in the presence of God," said St Josemaría; a very sound piece of advice.

During our life we will have to make decisions about many issues: reading, good use of time, studies, family, friends, career. God made us for happiness, for greatness - and He knows how to get it. Our paths are all different and personal, so we need to discover the Will of God for us. We need to ask for light to see His Will. We need to want to hear His Word: We need to pray, to talk to God.

The Russian author, Gorki, tells the story of a thinker who decided to rest for a few days in a monastery. His name was written on the door of his room. At night he couldn't sleep and decided to take a stroll through the impressive cloister. When he came back he discovered that there wasn't enough light to find his room; all the doors around the cloister looked alike; all had names on them but he couldn't read them. He didn't want to wake the monks so he spent the night wandering along the huge, dark corridor. With the first light of dawn he at last saw the door of his room and realised that he had passed in front of it a hundred times that night without recognising it. Like the man in the story, we need light to see which door to open. And that light comes with prayer.

We need to be souls of prayer. Not just souls who say prayers, but souls who pray, who have a personal conversation with God. Mary, Virgin most Faithful, as Jesus blessed you for hearing His Word and for keeping It, you can be my Teacher of prayer. I want to talk to God like you did in your Home in Nazareth, like you do now in Heaven. Mary, teach me to pray.