Tuesday
Twenty-fifth Week
Ordinary Time
Please note the final verse of this reading today, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the words of God and act on it." It is obvious that Jesus is speaking about the love He has and that the Father has for each of us. Likewise it is Jesus telling those people around him as well as all generations afterwards that in the eyes of God, we, all of us, are His brothers. We are his mother. Somewhat strange words no doubt. But what we are witnessing is the degree or the depth of His love for each one of us. This message of love is the mission which the Father entrusted to His Son: convey the love we share for my people.
Jesus has also said, "Love one another as I have loved you." This is the challenge, the call, the mission entrusted to each of us in our lives. We are called to elevate the level of our love for others to the same degree that should exist in our families. How often have I asked myself this question: Do I have the same love that I have for my brothers and sister as I have for the people who have come into my life, to the people that at times are a major annoyance in my life, to the man or woman who stands on the small traffic island at a traffic light with a sign begging for my money? To think that I love this person as I love my siblings forces me to ask God a question: "Are you being realistic in ask this kind of love from me for the indigent man or woman begging for my help?" This surely is a challenge at times for me from the teachings of Jesus.
To answer that question I know this: I have to remember that God love me and everyone else with such intensity that he was willing to die for them as well as for me. This is a thought to make clearer and stronger Jesus' message: loving, more loving and most loving. God is calling us to be most loving not simple to some, not even to most but to all!
Remember the moment of extraordinary love: Jesus says to Mary, "Mother, behold thy son." And to John, standing by her, He says "Son, behold thy Mother." This is the bond that Jesus is asking of us.
