Yesterday, I wrote about my demons and how I enable them to attach to me, turn me toward sin and away from God. I suggested that prayer, reconciliation and (thanks to statements by Pope Benedict XVI today) – I’ll add silence help me to banish my demons.
Today’s Gospel reading is an interesting narrative about God’s will – paramount to banish demons. Remember that to banish them aids me in my essential purpose: to lead a life of holiness.
In the reading today, Jesus’s family comes to visit him and he is surrounded by a crowd:
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”
But he said to them in reply,
“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
I wrote the other day that contemporaries of Jesus and even members of his family thought him to be out of his mind. You could add his question about his mother and brothers to the case. However, with a simple statement, Jesus redefines not only family but establishes the Body of Christ:
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”
Being a member of a family is important to most of us. It can protect us from loneliness or even despair.
Body of Christ by bemky
I think of the times in my own life when I felt isolated from my family – particularly when I left my parents house for college. I was in between worlds – the world of my childhood and the world of adults. I felt lonely and unsure of myself. I had not developed a relationship with God and I tried to do everything myself.
There were other times in my family now, with my wife and two children, when I felt isolated – particularly when I let those demons convince me that their way is best – better than God’s will for my life.
Like most families, the family of Jesus sets expectations to be a member. I know my wife and I work each day to remind our 8 and 4 year olds of familial expectations. In today’s scripture reading, Jesus was clear: “whoever does the will of God” is a member of his family.
So what everybody ought to know about the family of Jesus are two things:
1. All of us are welcome. Jesus gives to each of us the ability to join his family – to be a brother, or a sister or a mother. No longer do we Christians need to feel isolated – we have a permanent and open invitation from the Son of God to join his family.
2. We must do the will of God. All of us struggle to understand the will of God for ourselves and then actually do it. If you read about Saint Francis de Sales (we celebrate his memorial today), we see that he waited 13 years between the time he knew God called him to be a priest until the time he was ordained. How many years I have wasted, chasing demons instead of embracing God’s will for my life.
I am thankful for everyone who reads my words each day. Writing helps me slow down to read scripture and think about it. This helps me grow in my faith. The interactions we have help us grow together as a Christian family. I pray each day for each of you and thank you for your kindness.
Let us pray for our brothers and sisters who feel isolated from the family of Christ. Let our faith, words, actions and devotion lead them to see that God is love and they are welcome to join us.
Finally, let us pray that through God’s grace, we will be moved away from our fear of God’s will for us and embrace it so that in it we can find love for him and those around us.
Have a blessed evening!
†
You might also like these related posts from cinhosa:
Was Jesus out of his mind?
The effort to /biˈlēv/
Have pity like Jesus
Drop Everything and Join Me
Today we remember Saint Francis de Sales
Related articles
- Pope Benedict releases message for 46th World Communications Day: “The key to communication is silence”… (whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com)
- Doing The Will Of God (catholicjules.net)
- Memorial of St. Francis de Sales (redemptoristpreacher.com)
- How St. Francis de Sales can teach you to trust in the Lord like never before… (regnumnovum.com)
- By the intercession of Saint Francis de Sales…This writer keeps writing! (catholicjournaling.wordpress.com)
As usual, beautiful words. St Francis de Sales has so much to offer us. I will look forward to more of your posts and be in touch soon. I think most of us chase our “demons,” literally and figuratively, and yet God chases us more. God wants us more than we want him (I just heard Father Mitch on EWTN say that during his homily on daily Mass today!) in reference to the path St Francis de Sales took and shared in his work among Calvinists. Timely words. Thank you for being part of my family.
Posted by catholicboyrichard | January 24, 2012, 10:23 pm