We have all been blessed in many ways from the families that raised us and contributed to the people we have become now. One thing that is so dear to me apart from my family of origin, is the new family I joined forty years ago and that is the Congregation of Holy Cross.
It is family that has nurtured my relationship with God. Don’t get me wrong we share our difficult moments and crises at times, but the Congregation of Holy Cross has been and still continues to be a place where I have experienced a relationship of trust, commitment, loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, encouragement, support, strength and so many other qualities that bind people together in mutual love and unity. I am sure you can all give similar testimonies to different new families you belong to.
In the gospel today, Jesus’ beloved family comes by as he is preaching. They inform him about their presence. Without denying his biological family, as always, he used the opportunity to redefine family, elevating spiritual bonds above biological ties. He focuses on the disciples around him whom he identified as his new family. He declares that whoever does the will of His heavenly Father is his true brother, sister, and mother.
In a way, He also uses the moment to pivot from His earthly duties to His divine mission. He reveals that the deepest connections in the Kingdom of God are formed through shared devotion to God, through a shared obedience to the will of the Father. This new family is one to which we are all members in the virtue of our baptism. Through the grace of Baptism, we become sons and daughters of the Father and members of Christ's body. Just like Jesus, we too must move on from our significant families to do the work God is asking us to do as members of the universal church.
Jesus calls us to be members of his new family as his disciples, and this requires that we embrace the will of God, whereby, we shall have to actively align our hearts, actions and character with the divine teachings and Gospel values.