Mark 3: 31-35
Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
What Defines Family
Relationships with our family members understandably have primacy of place in our lives. Few things or people form us in as foundational a way as our family does. The family is exalted and privileged in nearly all cultures. However, the idea of family can be weaponized. From classic cinema like The Godfather to the recent series Mobland, the characters depicted in the featured families turn their “love” for their family into idolatry. The family is explicitly named as the most important thing, above and beyond anything else and everything is justified in the name of protecting, defending, or promoting the interests of the family.
In today’s Gospel Jesus broadens the concept of what a family is and stresses that doing God’s will is ultimately most important and what defines these relationships among kin. God’s family members are identified not by blood bonds but by their common act of following Jesus.
—Carl Caceres, SJ, is a Midwest Province Jesuit working on a doctoral degree in higher education and doing spiritual direction at Loyola University.
Prayer
We Pray to You, O Lord,
We thank you for the gift of our families
Help us to give them the respect and love they deserve
But let us remember that Jesus calls us
to expand our understanding of family members to
include your wider human family and in a special way
those who follow your Son and try to do your will
May we walk the journey of faith that is our lives
in right relationship with these, our brothers and sisters
Amen
—Carl Caceres, SJ
Pray with the Pope
Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.