The mother of Jesus 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.” (Lk 8:19-21)
As I type this, I can hear the old Sister Sledge song, “We Are Family”, playing in my head. Yet, in a very real sense, we ARE family.
If God is our Father and Jesus is our brother, we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord.
However, if that is, indeed, the case, we need to start living like family.
Let me clarify that statement: we need to live like a true, loving family and not continue living like the dysfunctional family the human race has become.
Wars, hatred, violence, bigotry, malice, racism — these are all “hallmarks” of the family that we have become.
Jesus reminded us that we are His family if we hear the word of God and act upon it. Acting upon God’s word means that we have to replace war with peace, hatred with love, bigotry with acceptance, malice with kindness, and racism with equality.
You and I both know that we are never going to be able to do that without God’s help. However, God’s help begins the moment that we listen to His word. Listening is the first part of acting upon it.
Listen to God in your heart today. Hear His word. And then, act upon it. Become the family member that God wants you to be!
FAITH ACTION: Pray for your “families” today: your biological family, your parish family, your family of the entire world. Pray that we all may live in peace and love.