First Reading: Proverbs 21:1–6, 10–13
Responsorial Psalm: Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.
Gospel: Luke 8:19–21
Reflection
Today’s Gospel is taken from Saint Luke’s account of our Lord’s ministry in the region of Galilee, and here, in what’s essentially part of a larger training session for the Twelve Apostles, we find Jesus teaching about the life of faith and the nature of true discipleship.
And as he and the disciples now prepare to begin their journey up to Jerusalem, our Lord is challenging them to focus their attention really on what is truly essential.
And as Jesus instructs the disciples, he is also preaching and teaching. He’s performing miracles before adoring crowds. So many have gathered around him now. Indeed, as we’ve just heard, so many people surround him that Mary and those closest to our Lord are indeed having a difficult time reaching him, owing to the size of the crowds.
And I think a number of things emerge for our reflection.
First of all, when Jesus says that those who hear the word of God and put it into practice become like mother and brothers to him, we see that Jesus is calling us not just to be followers or disciples, but to become members of a new spiritual family.
In his First Letter to the Faithful, St. Francis of Assisi suggests that we become brothers and sisters of Jesus when we do the will of the Father who is in heaven. We are mothers of Jesus when we bear him in our hearts and in our bodies, with divine love, with pure and sincere consciences. And we give birth to him through a holy life, which should enlighten others because of our example.
So it is that more than a call to love and to serve God and to serve our neighbour, and beyond the call to become disciples or followers of Jesus, ultimately those who follow are called to be obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, yes, but then to enter into this intimate familial spiritual bond with Jesus himself through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And when we consider the story of our own journey of faith, as reflected not only in today’s Gospel but elsewhere in the writings of the New Testament, we see that Jesus calls us not only to be part of a new spiritual family, but indeed to a profound, everlasting transformation.
Ultimately, more than followers, more than disciples, and beyond this new family of faith, united in the love and the service of God and our neighbour, we see that Jesus is calling us along a path that leads us to become a whole new creation.
The life of faith lived deeply, lived to the full, results in our being radically transformed in the depths of our beings, indeed into something new, something that shares in the mystery of Christ’s own nature.
We become truly Christ-like, as the lives of the saints show us.
Saint Paul leads us to reflect on the nature, on the scope of this transformation in Christ in his Letter to the Ephesians and elsewhere. But here in Ephesians, he speaks very clearly in terms of the lifelong process of spiritual transformation that demands of us an ongoing effort on our part, indeed, every day.
In Paul’s own terms, this involves casting off the old self and putting on the new self. Being clothed, if you will, with the new self, created to be like God in righteousness and holiness.
Those who give brave witness, public witness, to the Gospel will be given power over the nations. Jesus will give them the morning star. They will dine with Christ. He will grant them to sit with him on his heavenly throne.
These lines, then, of spiritual reflection are developed now in the early Christian writings.
Saint Hippolytus, for instance, states clearly: “For the sake of his own glory, God has given us a share in his divinity.”
In the various writings of Saints Athanasius, Augustine, Irenaeus, Thomas Aquinas, and others, they lead us to reflect on what it means to acquire this share in God’s divinity. What it means ultimately to become, again, this mother, or brother, or sister of Christ, and much more.
What are the marks, then, of true discipleship?
First of all, I think to live our lives in such a way that we’re always prayerfully attentive to the word of God, calling out to us every day, amid the circumstances of everyday life.
So it is that then we’re able to discern what God is calling us to do: to live the Gospel fully through the life of prayer, but also through our actions, concretely, in the service of God and one another.
Jesus calls us then to strive to live the life of holiness in imitation of the saints of the Church, as we follow him along the royal road of the cross.
Here, then, is the radical call to leave everything behind, which also demands a complete reordering of our inner attitudes, our relationships, our attachments, our inner being.
So, to be conformed to Christ and, in so doing, to become Christ-like.
What does this involve?
One modern theologian speaks in terms of allowing God to become the absolute center of all spiritual attraction and gravitation in our lives.
So it must be for us as disciples of Christ in our world today. God must become the very center and focus of our energies, again, as the lives of the saints show us very clearly.
Ultimately, to be a true disciple, then, involves setting aside our ego as we place God first.
Jesus teaches us: “Thy will be done.”
At the same time, it’s important to appreciate that true discipleship involves giving bold and courageous witness, public witness, to the Gospel before a disbelieving world that now, as in the time of Jesus himself, has always been hostile to this message and its values.
Our Lord’s teachings today, that we’re called to become his mother, or brother, or sister, and so forth, lead us then to pause on our own respective journeys.
To reflect a bit on a series of important questions.
What is our treasure in this passing life?
What do we hope for?
In what are we investing our time, our thoughts?
In what are investing all of our energies?
Like the Magi, by what star are we charting our spiritual journey through this world?
Finally, as our Lord instructs his disciples concerning the true nature of discipleship, his teachings remain very relevant in our own time today.
I think especially regarding the exercise of power, the exercise of authority in our world.
The more, I should say that for this new spiritual family established by Christ, this demands that we treat one another as family.
As family members, united in our obedience to the will of God the Father in heaven.
And so we should look, at least consider, the social dimensions of today’s Gospel as well.
So, as we reflect on the truth that Jesus himself came not to be served, but to serve and to give his own life for others, we can appreciate that his teachings, together with his own living example, remain far ahead of their time.
Again, in our globalized world, whereas those who truly hear the word of God and put it into practice, it follows that we are called to care for one another like close relatives.
This includes the poorest of the poor, the sick, those who are dying, the stranger, those suffering from food insecurity, the lost, the lonely, the abandoned of our society.
So, as we continue to celebrate this Mass, we pray for the grace not only to follow Jesus as servants, to become brothers and sisters of Christ, and so to be transformed and configured to him in every dimension of the Paschal Mystery.
Let us pray for the grace, again, in the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, that we too may give “spiritual birth to Christ” through a holy life, so as to enlighten others by our example.
And finally, as Saint Maximus the Confessor observes: “The word of God, born once in the flesh, is always willing to be born spiritually in those who desire him.”
Amen.
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