Jesus and His Family

Today's Reflections

Jesus and His Family 

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Mk 3:31-35

³¹[Jesus’] mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. ³²A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers [and your sisters] are outside asking for you.” ³³But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and [my] brothers?” ³⁴And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. ³⁵[For] whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Reflection:

Who are my mother and my brothers? Jesus tells us that what matters to him is not blood relationship but the bond created by doing the Father’s will, just as he always does.

We can apply this to our present situation. What matters is not whether you are a Catholic or not, but whether you do the will of the Father. Belonging to the Church by baptism is a great grace, but as the Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).

The greatness of Mary comes not so much from the fact that she bore Jesus in her body but because she was a true disciple of her Son, doing the will of the Father like him, as St. Augustine says.

Don’t be content with being a Christian or Catholic.

Be a doer of the Father’s will.