Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
- Mary Jo Barr
- 17 hours ago
- 2 min read
Gospel Matthew 12:46-50
Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.”But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? ”And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
REFLECTION
“Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Who are the true relatives of Jesus? Only those who follow the Will of His heavenly Father. Can we surrender our own will and live according to God's Will? This is challenging, as fully imitating Christ requires us to relinquish our will to Him. How can we achieve this surrender? It involves a process of drawing closer to Him through the Sacraments, particularly Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist.
In Reconciliation, we seek forgiveness for offending Jesus. Do we make amends or truly repent for the pain we've caused Him? The more we know Jesus, the more we realize how our sins are abhorrent to Him. Yet, He endured unimaginable suffering and a painful death to save us from sin. Reflecting on His passion and death helps us comprehend the depth of Jesus' love for us sinners.
The Eucharist is Jesus Christ; His body, blood, soul, and divinity. If we genuinely believe in Jesus' presence in the Eucharist, we understand that He longs to unite with us. He desires to dwell within us. If Jesus is within us, He can aid us in knowing and loving Him more deeply. St. Paul expressed,
I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:16-19 NIV)
Jesus followed His Father's Will. Similarly, His mother Mary and foster father, Joseph, fulfilled God the Father's Will. The disciples abandoned everything to follow Jesus and grew to love Him more after His death, Resurrection, and Ascension. They were enlightened by the Holy Spirit to understand the necessity of continuing
Jesus' mission to spread the Gospel to all humanity.
Let us pray the Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so that the Blessed Trinity will guide us to become true Christians like our Redeemer and Brother, Jesus Christ.
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