TUESDAY, THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Heb 10: 1-10 Ps 40: 2, 4, 7-8, 10, 11 Mk 3: 31-35
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY
Most of us are familiar with the proverb, ‘Blood runs thicker than water’, which is a clever way of saying that family bonds are stronger than that of friendship or love. However, for Christ, what truly unites people are not familial bonds but the bonds that are forged by doing God’s will together. Through faith and good works, we are bonded not only with those who are currently on earth, but also with those who have gone before us. Even death cannot severe the ties that are built on the foundation of good works and faith. Perhaps it is more apt to say that the living waters drawn from the baptismal font runs thicker than both blood and water.
God brought us into the world through our natural families, and Jesus redefines family in suggesting that it goes deeper. Through the Gospel passage today, Jesus teaches us a fundamental lesson about what it means to be a part of God’s family. Households normally have family members on the inside and crowds on the outside. But here the order is reversed. Jesus was spending time with those called from the outside to be on the inside. Jesus used this scene to drive home an important point about the priority of relationships in His Kingdom. As Jesus would make clear, spiritual proximity to him is not a matter of flesh and blood but on faithfulness to the will of His Father. (cf. Jn 1:12–13) In His eyes, Through His disciples, Jesus established not only His kingdom, but also a new family, a family based not on having a common name, but on having the same heavenly Father.
A biblical scholar writes, “Obey the Lord, and an unparalleled family experience awaits you.” It really is a wonderful thing to belong to the family of Christ. By living our faith, we are all members of Christ’s household, where love and justice reign forever and ever.
Response: See, I have come, Lord, to do your will.
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