Scripture:
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Matthew 12:46-50
Reflection:
In our Gospel reading for today, when Jesus is speaking to the crowds, He is told that His mother and brothers are waiting to speak to him. Instead of stopping what He’s doing to go to them, He says, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” It is not what you’d expect. Then He goes even further. Indicating the crowds, He says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
I go on Facebook every day. I see a lot of the division often mentioned in the U.S. And Jesus’ words, I think, continue to challenge us to go beyond even blood relations, or “tribal” affiliations, and see others as Jesus sees us, as beloved.
To be able to see each other that way requires the grace of God. We might very well echo the prayer we hear in our first reading from the prophet Micah: “Shepherd your people with your staff…As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs…Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt…Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency…You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins…You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.”
As God has shown us mercy and clemency and love, may we show the same to one another.
Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama.