30 July 2010: “Whoever does the will of my Father ...”

An apparently chance incident interrupted our Lord’s discourse. People came to tell him that his Mother and other near relatives have come from Nazareth and were standing outside seeking to speak to him.

“Someone told him, ‘Look, your Mother and your brethren seek you ...’. But answering him, Jesus said, ‘Who is my Mother, and who are my brethren?’ And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said, ‘Behold my mother and my brethren!’” (Mt 12:47-9) Or whoever stand in their place.

What does our Lord teach us by this? That when the glory of God, the salvation of souls, or our own sanctification is in question, we ought to forget all that attaches us to earth. We should sacrifice, when necessary, our affection for relatives to the obedience and fidelity we owe to God.

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, sister and mother.” (Mt 12:50) He who does the will of God is, in this sense, the brother of Jesus Christ. By conforming in all things with God’s will, which is also that of Jesus, one has a perfect ‘fraternity’ of thoughts and feelings with him.

By faithfully fulfilling the divine will, he possesses that charity which makes us adopted children of God, and thus brothers of Jesus Christ. He himself gave that name to his disciples when, after his resurrection, he said to the holy women, “Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee” (Mt 28:10).

It identifies us, so to speak, with him and makes us partakers of all the immense blessings he won by his Passion and his death. Do we value this practice?

‘For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, ...’ Is my ‘mother’? There is something, then, greater still than becoming the brother of Jesus Christ -- something more marvellous, more inexplicable.

Pope St Gregory explains: “He becomes the mother of Christ who, by his preaching, causes him to be born in the hearts of men by making him known and loved by those who were strangers to him.” This is truly a spiritual maternity; as noble and meritorious as maternity according to the flesh.

We can all attain this divine maternity by trying with every means in our power to help in the propagation of the faith -- by offering to God our prayers, communions, penance, and sufferings for the conversion of pagans, heretics, and schismatics. By causing Jesus Christ to be born and to live in the souls of others at every opportunity.

Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp477-9

The Special Christian Vocation

It is essential for us to understand that Jesus has a specific task in life for each and everyone of us. Each one of us is handpicked, called by name -- by Jesus! There is no one among us who does not have a divine vocation!

St Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Each one of us has received God’s favor in the measure in which Christ bestows it ... It was he who gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers in roles of service for the faithful to build up the body of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-2)

First and foremost, God has called us into existence. He has called us to be! He called us, through his Son Jesus Christ, to a knowledge of himself as our Loving Father. He has called us to be his children! He has called us to fulfil his eternal plan in our individual lives, with Jesus as our guide. He has called us to be co-heirs with Jesus of his heavenly Kingdom!

What God our Father is offering us through his Son is a ‘new life as his real children, with Jesus for our brother’; a pressing call to live, to love, to labor for the coming of his Kingdom. And, lest, bewildered at what we must do, we hesitate, Jesus offers to be himself our guide and says: “Come after me.” (Lk 9:59)

Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, pp259-60

The duty of making fraternal correction

In the Old Testament, God frequently made use of men of fortitude and courage to inform others they are straying from the way that leads to God.

God sent the Prophet Nathan to King David (cf 2 Sam 12:1-17) to speak to him about his grave sins despite his obvious terrible offences (adultery with the wife of a faithful servant and arranging the latter’s death), and the fact that the king knew the Law very well.

David “perceived it not, his lust keeping in subjection all his reasoning powers ... Therefore, he stood in need of enlightenment from the prophet and of words calling to his mind what he had done.” (St John Chrysostom, “Homilies on St Matthew’s Gospel”, 60, 1) For weeks David lived with his conscience numbed to sin.

To make David realize the gravity of his fault, Nathan tells him a parable. “... two men ... one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his morsel, drink from his cup, lie in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.

“There came a traveller to the rich man and he was unwilling to take one of his flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer ... but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man. ... David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die’.

“Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man’. David recalled to mind his sins; he repented and expressed his sorrow in a Psalm which the Church holds up to us as a model of contrition. It begins, ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions’ (Ps 50 [51] ...” David did penance and was grateful to God.

Let us turn to Our Lady, ‘Mother of Good Counsel’, and ask her to help us live this sign of fraternal charity for the people we come into most frequent contact.

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 3:151-2, 157

Our Lady de Gray, near Besançon in Franche Comte. This image made of the oak of Montaigu, was much honored in the country. — Triple Couronne, n. 58. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)

'Notre Dame de Gris' / Our Lady de Gray. Besançon, France. 1602.(www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)