Gospel LK 8:19-21
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him
but were unable to join him because of the crowd.
He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.”
He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers
are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
Reflection:
“He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers
are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
Jesus makes is clear to us here: belonging to the family of God is more than simply belonging to a godly family.
I may take my grandchildren to church every Sunday, and that is a good thing. But, if I do not personally “act” on the word of God then I am missing out on the fullness of a relationship with my brother, Jesus Christ.
And what does it mean to “act” on the word of God?
The constitution of the Congregation of Holy Cross states it in this way: “We asked how we might follow, and we found many footprints on the road. A great band of men had passed this way, men who had made and lived by their vows, men who had walked side by side in their following of the Lord.”
Perhaps St. James says it best, “Faith without works is dead.” James 2:17
When I share in the works of Christ with others, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick, then I am one with Christ.
Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons three vans leave My Brother’s Keeper loaded with food to be delivered to “the hungry.”
Those who come to join in this Christian service are grammar school, high school, and college students, joined by people their parent’s and grandparent’s ages.
They too walk “side by side in their following of the Lord.”
Sharing in the works of the Lord, they become the family of the Lord, and their faith comes alive.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Mahatma Gandhi