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Commentary on the Gospel for Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Dear friends,
And we all know how important blood is! The law of blood is a beautiful thing. It makes us family, creates indelible bonds, and is the ultimate foundation of love and security when so many things fail. Blood is the most beautiful and profound thing of all. It brings us the words we love the most: mother, father, brothers, and sisters. So, I’d love to understand why Jesus makes this shift from blood to behavior and attitudes. “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and keep it,” he says with a warm smile. But when we really think about it, we realize that what might seem like rejection is actually a form of praise and commendation. It’s amazing to give blood, but it’s even more incredible when it’s given with faith and trust in God. This is why the Mother of the blood is so special. She is the one who listens to and fulfills the word of the Lord in an incomparable way. Just like in the Old Testament, she wasn’t God’s people by race, but by God’s loving and provident choice.
Our Lady did not presume to be the Mother of God. She was, in fact, “the handmaid of the Lord.” As a servant by faith, like Jesus, she was always in the things of the Father and always did the things that pleased the Father. Mary did not remain in biology; she transcended it. From her freedom, she cooperated in an exemplary human way. If being a mother is not the primary title for the Virgin, then we must reject the worldly titles that some men in the Church seek. The gift of faith is our only distinction and greatness, our only source of rights. Faith makes us all equal. Our relationships, in society and in the Church, are not based on blood, on economics, on jobs. They are based on the communion of the same family, the family of the Kingdom. It is disgraceful that we, as Christians, are horrified by the divisions and inequalities that exist in countries with a long Christian tradition. These divisions are based on blood or worldly ambitions.
Our Lady did not presume to be the Mother of God. She was the “handmaid of the Lord.” As a servant by faith, like Jesus, she was always in the things of the Father and always did the things that pleased the Father. Mary did not remain in biology; she transcended it. From her freedom, she cooperated in an exemplary human way. If being a mother is not the primary title for the Virgin, then we must reject the worldly titles that some men in the Church seek. The gift of faith is our only distinction and greatness, our only source of rights. Faith makes us all equal. Our relationships, in society and in the Church, are not based on blood, on economics, on jobs. They are based on the communion of the same family, the family of the Kingdom. It is disgraceful that we, as Christians, are horrified by the divisions and inequalities that exist in countries with a long Christian tradition. These divisions are based on blood or worldly ambitions.