Proverbs 21:1-6.10-13,
Psalm 119:1.27.30.34.35.44,
Luke 8:19-21 Full Readings
Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions
Jesus' Family
Brethren, think about becoming a mother of the president? What about being a sister or a brother of Bill Gates? Or some other famous person? It probably would be the source of a certain joy and pride in a good way. If you can feel like that with these earthly and mortal people, what about if you are the mother, or brother or sister of Jesus or a child of God?
While if you are not a mother of a president or brother to Bill Gates or a child of the queen, it is impossible to be one by mere talking or wishing, according to today's Gospel Jesus assures of becoming a mother to Him, or a sister or a brother to Him and all of us becoming children of God. This is only possible when we do the Will of God; “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) gives us the way of becoming a brother of sister or a mother of Jesus: "If someone can become the brother of the Lord by coming to faith, we must ask how one can become also his mother. We must realize that the one who is Christ's brother and sister by believing becomes his mother by preaching. It is as though one brings forth the Lord and infuses him in the hearts of one's listeners. And that person becomes his mother if through one's voice the love of the Lord is generated in the mind of his neighbor (Excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 3.2)
Through baptism, we have become “members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19), with one Father, God in heaven. We share a family name: Christian. As part of this family, we are called to do God’s will and “love each other like brothers and sisters” (Romans 12:10). All Christians therefore are our mothers, sisters and brothers. Each time we come together for Mass, we come for our family meal. We hear our stories proclaimed in the Scriptures. We pray together and sing our family songs. We affirm that we are one family of brothers and sisters in many ways. “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are … Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1-2).
Firstly, in the Confiteor, we confess to and ask God and our brothers and sisters to pray for us: “I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned…” Secondly, when we pray The Lord’s Prayer, we affirm that we are children of God: “Our Father, who art in heaven…” Finally, we share the bread of life, our Communion with God, and with one another: The Holy Eucharist. Christ feeds us himself and we become “one body and one Spirit” in him (Ephesians 4:4).
An early Christian martyr once said that "a Christian's only relatives are the saints" - namely those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and adopted as sons and daughters of God. Those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ and who live as his disciples enter into a new family, a family of "saints" here on earth and in heaven. Jesus changes the order of relationships and shows that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. Our true family is the family of God and that's why nothing should stop us from serving God and doing the will of the Father.
Do you want to become a mother of Jesus? Become a brother or sister of Jesus? If yes, then do the will of the Father. We should all strive to become part of God's family by doing the will of the Father which involves a relationship of trust, affection, commitment, loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, mercy, helpfulness, encouragement, support, strength, protection, and so many other qualities that bind people together in mutual love and unity. We have to show love to each other as Christians the way you show it to your mother or sister or father or brother. It's when we do this that we will become true members of the family of God.
Our invitation today is to strive each day to remain members of God's family. If in any way we fail, let us come back with a contrite heart and God will receive us back as Micah pleaded to God to give a second chance to Israelites in the first reading so should we plead for a second chance when we fail as members of God family. Reflect today on how you have lived as a member of God's family by showing Love and mercy to your brothers and sister. Reflect on the whole book of Ephesians where St Paul encourages us to live in love as brothers and sisters. (eg 5:1)
Let us Pray.
O my God, you are our Heavenly Father. Jesus, you are my brother. Mary, you are my mother. Help me to see all the baptized as truly my brothers and sisters. Help me to work alongside them to build your church. Amen.
Be blessed.
About the brothers of Christ who we hear about today in the Gospel: Did Mary really have other children apart from Jesus?
A review of the footnotes in Catholic Bibles or the content in Catholic commentaries will show that they almost universally address the question of Jesus’ brothers. The consensus is that in biblical language, the meaning of the word “brethren” was not limited to siblings but applied to other male and female relatives as well. The Catechism states, “The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of Mary…They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression” (CCC 500, emphasis added). The Church insists on “Mary’s real and perpetual virginity” (CCC 499), and at the same time affirms, “Jesus is Mary’s only son, but her spiritual motherhood extends to all men whom indeed he came to save” (CCC 501). We are the Lord’s brothers, and sisters, and Mary is our mother.
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