Then Uzziah said to her, “Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who guided your blow at the head of the leader of our enemies. (Judith 13:18 NABRE)
The Book of Judith relates the story of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people. The work may have been written around 100 B.C., but its historical range spans hundreds of turbulent years. The work is considered historical fiction, written to exalt God as Israel’s deliverer from foreign might, not by an army, but by means of a simple widow.*
The Book of Judith is not without controversy, because Jewish rabbis did not count Judith among their scriptures, and the Reformation adopted that position. The early Church, however, held this book in high honor. The first-century Pope, St. Clement of Rome, proposes Judith as an example of courageous love. St. Jerome holds her up as an example of a holy widow and a type of the Church and, in another place, describes Mary as a new Judith. The Council of Trent (1546) included Judith in the canon; thus it is one of the seven deuterocanonical books.*
Today, I will welcome the inspired Word of God in all its recognized forms.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas and of Mexico, pray for us.
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