Monday, July 23, 2007

Who Is My Brother?

July 24, 2007

Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant. Exodus 15:1

“Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Matthew 12:50

Piety

Let us pray: Lord, you are holy indeed. Strengthen me to trust in your holiness above all else so that I can become your obedient servant echoing Abraham, Isaiah, and all your servants who cry, “Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will.” May your will be done to me according to your Word. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/072407.shtml

Jesus wants to come closer to us as if he is a member of our family. To do so, he opens the path. He doesn’t expect us to cross the entire distance by ourselves or without help. As He approaches us and seeks our response, He wants us to approach him. To make it easier, Jesus removes many of the obstacles in our path and protects us from harm. We see that in the familiar story in today’s reading from Exodus made famous by Charlton Heston’s portrayal of Moses in “The Ten Commandments.”

Jesus frees us from that which enslaves us and protects us from those forces which seek to harm us. Like Mary in Sunday’s Gospel story, he wants us to stop being pre-occupied with worldly distractions. We see again, today, what is the better part when Jesus identifies who is a part of his family. The family of Jesus is not made up simply of those blood relatives, but by those who hear the word of God and obey it (Luke 8:19-22 or Matthew 12:50):

Then his mother and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you." He said to them in reply, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it."

This is reinforced in the exchange to come between Jesus and a woman from the crowd in Luke 11:27-28:

While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed."

He replied, "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."

Also, the view is reinforced in Matthew 13:16-17:

"But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.

Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Mary, the Mother of God, serves as the first model of the obedient servant (Luke 1:38): "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

Action

While our actions are important in fulfilling the Word, first we must listen to the word and truly hear what it means for our life. What does it say? What does it mean? What does it matter?

We have many choices in life. This week Scriptures give us many reminders that our service must be grounded first in faith. There are many people in the world who provide service for personal, altruistic reasons. However, they can do so without any scriptural or spiritual basis in faith.

Jesus did not tell Martha that her work, or the work of Abraham serving the Lord, is not important as well. However, he sets down that the cornerstone of any service rests in hearing and understanding His words FIRST. Then, we face the challenge of what to do about the message.

There are many ways to get a better grounding in Catholic Social teaching. One that I strongly advocate is participation in the series Just Faith, a 33-week long series of classes, discussions, readings movies and volunteer work that expose the participants to all Catholic Social teachings and the biblical foundation (http://www.justfaith.org/).

Does your parish or a nearby parish offer Just Faith classes starting this fall? Look into the series and sign up if it sounds like this is something for you.

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