Tuesday – St. Thomas Aquinas

Gospel – Mark 3:31-35

Mamas and Papas

Anointing Stone, Church of Holy Sepulchre

“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”

Given Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel, there is one thing I know for certain.  If I ever said anything similar about or to my parents, my ability to sit in a chair would be painful for about a week.  But this is Jesus and we know that there is something else going on here.

In truth, Jesus is not rejecting his parents, his family.  Instead, He is offering an invitation to all of us to be a part of His family if we only believe and do the Father’s will.  Imagine that!  Jesus invites each of us to be His brother or sister!  Isn’t that exactly what we were baptized into?  Aren’t we all part of a family of faith, a family beyond blood and ethnicity!

Jesus challenges us to cast a wider net when we consider who is part of our ‘family’. So perhaps something to reflect on today!  Who else has been a father or mother to you?  A brother or a sister?  Who held you together when you felt like falling apart?  Who supported you when you felt lost and abandoned?  Who encouraged you to strive harder, to reach further, than you imagined?  Who offered you a helping hand when you fell so far?

And let’s not forget the reverse!    When have you ever done the Will of God by being a friend to a stranger, a guide to the lost, a source of hope to the disillusioned?  When have you ever been a brother/sister, a father or a mother to someone in need?

That is the family that Jesus speaks of today.  We are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are all part of one family – one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism in Christ