Readings for today.
Have you ever considered yourself a brother or sister of Jesus?
Do you consider yourself as part of His family?
Hopefully your answer is an affirmative YES. However, if you have never considered yourself as part of Jesus’ family, He is inviting you today to consider the invitation. “Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Some have tried to interpret this Gospel story in different ways:
1) They say that Jesus is putting down His mother Mary. This is not the case at all. Jesus is rather affirming all of us who try to do His will. And the Scriptures are clear about Mary’s role – “Blessed are you among women…” (Luke 1:42) And Jesus followed the 4th Commandment of honoring His father and mother.
2) Others say that this Scripture means that Jesus had biological siblings and therefore Mary is not ever-virgin. I think the key Scripture that points to Jesus not having siblings is John 19:27 – “John, behold your mother.” Jesus was watching out for His mother from the cross because in that society women only had social standing through the men in their families. Joseph had already died and Mary’s only son, Jesus, was about to die. If Jesus had brothers, Mary simply would have been entrusted to one of them. However, Jesus entrusted His mother to John, the beloved disciple.
The significance of this Scripture is that the Lord invites us all to be a part of His family – intimate members of His household. We become His sons and daughters through our baptism. But we must also do the will of God the Father to maintain that relationship. What must we do to do the will of the Father?
We must pray to know the will of the Father.
We must put our faith into action.
We must have the courage to follow wherever the Lord calls us.
Is there anything holding you back?
Are you spending quality time in prayerful conversation with the Lord every day in order to know His will?
Are you putting your faith into action?
Have a blessed day!
Fr. Burke
Monday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel Mt 19:16-22
A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.
Some thoughts on the Gospel
The young man in today’s Gospel Reading knows that something more is needed. He’s very confident that he has observed the commandments, but knows that he still lacks something for the gaining of eternal life. Jesus’ response aims for Heaven: “to be perfect”, the young man must sell what he has in order to give to the poor, and then he must follow Jesus.
It would not be accurate to take today’s passage as a proof that every Christian must abandon all his or her possessions. Jesus was speaking on this occasion to an individual. Individual members of the Body of Christ have different vocations, and are called in different ways.
What every Christian vocation does have in common with every other is to seek “to be perfect”. In fact, Jesus commands us elsewhere to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. That might seem an impossibly lofty goal, were we not to understand the meaning of the word “perfect”. From the Latin, it could be colloquially translated as “to become what one is”, or in other words, “to become what one is meant to be”. God “designed” each human person, and calls each human person, to spend himself in love for others, and above all, for Himself as the ineffable Other. However God may ask you to accomplish this, give thanks for His call.