GOSPEL POWER | JULY 20, 2021 | TUESDAY | 16th Week in Ordinary Time | Saint Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr

 Gospel: Mt 12: 46 - 50

While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Reflection

Jesus is not only a teacher of wisdom but Wisdom-inperson, and he often provokes his listeners to think  beyond conventional, ordinary and natural order, and  thus discover divine wisdom. Today’s Gospel is one such instance  of provocation, and the visit of members of his family simply  provides him with the appropriate context. Jesus does not minimize  the importance of natural blood-ties, for the institution of family  is God-willed. He himself entered into a human family to become  the firstborn of God’s universal family. To belong to God’s universal  family — which is another expression that refers to the Kingdom of  heaven — is the vocation of every person. But unlike being born into  a natural family, without one’s willing it, belonging to God’s family  must be an active personal decision that is concretized by choosing  to obey God’s will. For obedience, not blood, is the bond that holds  together the members of God’s universal and trans-worldly family

Prayer

Lord Jesus, grant us wisdom and steadfastness whenever we are drawn  by blood-ties to slacken our pursuit of the Father’s will. Amen