Những lời nói của Chúa Giêsu trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay có thể đã gây sốc mạnh cho những người sống trong một truyền thống tôn kính và vinh danh cha mẹ và gia đình như những người Á đông chúng ta. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu đã không quay lưng lại với gia đình của Ngài; trái lại, Ngài đã mở rộng cái gia đình đó. Ngài đã xây dựng một gia đình vĩ đại bao là gồm tất cả nhân loại. Ngài nhấn mạnh: Từ nay trở đi, không còn giới hạn tình yêu của chúng ta, mà tất cả thân nhân anh em ruột thịt của chúng ta trong Thiên Chúa. Tất cả những ai đáp lại lời gọi và tiếp nhận Tin Mừng của Thiên Chúa, được coi như là người thân trong gia đình của chúng ta. Trong một nghĩa nào đó, gia đình của chúng ta đã phát triển và rất to lớn.
Những lời dạy của Chúa Giêsu là một thách thức cho chúng ta, để chúng ta biết phải mở rộng tấm lòng và tâm trí của chúng ta và để chúng ta có thể biết chấp nhận nhiều hơn không phải chỉ có những người gần gũi và thân yêu của chúng ta không mà thôi. Chúng ta hãy nhìn xung quanh chúng ta, Ai là những người thân cận trong gia đình của chúng ta? Nếu chúng ta làm được như vậy, liệu chúng ta có thay đổi thái độ và hành vi khi chúng ta đố xử với họ? Vũ trũ và thế giới này là nhà của chúng ta và tất cả mọi người trong nhân loại đều là những anh chị em hân nhân tiềm năng trong gia đình của chúng ta.
- Lạy Chúa, xin Chúa đừng để bất cứ hàng rào, ngăn cách nào có thể cản ngăn tình yêu của chúng con.
The words of Jesus sound a little harsh to our ears. He seems to dismiss them as he proclaims that those who do the will of God are his mother and brothers. The words must have been shocking to those living in a tradition that revered and honored parents and family. But Jesus was not turning his back on his family — on the contrary, he was expanding it. He came to build all of humanity into one family. From now on, he insisted, don't confine your love just to your blood relatives. All who respond to God can be counted as our family. In a sense, our family has grown enormous.
The words of Jesus are a challenge to broaden our hearts and minds and embrace more than just those who are near and dear to us. Let us look around — who can we count among our family? If we do so, will our behavior towards them change? The world is our home and all humanity is our potential family.
Lord, may there be no barriers to my love for others.
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.” Luke 8:19–21
In biblical Greek, the word translated as “brothers” can refer not only to biological siblings but also to close relatives, kinsmen, or even spiritual brethren, depending on the context. For example, the Greek translation of Genesis 13:8 describes Abraham and Lot as “brothers,” even though Lot is Abraham’s nephew. In Acts 1:15, Peter stood up in the midst of the “brothers,” referring to the larger group of about 120 gathered disciples. And in Romans 1:13, Saint Paul addresses his “brothers” in Rome, meaning all the believers gathered in that city.
Therefore, when we read that Jesus’ mother and His “brothers” came to see Him, the Church has always maintained that this is not a reference to biological siblings—since Jesus is the only Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary—but to extended relatives, likely from Nazareth, such as cousins or other close kin.
Nonetheless, at first glance, another point of confusion could arise from this passage. It might appear that Jesus is distancing Himself not only from His extended kin, but even from His own mother. But is that the case? Certainly not. In fact, a clearer spiritual reading of this passage reveals quite the opposite.
Considering the Blessed Virgin Mary’s arrival and Jesus’ statement that “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it,” who better fulfills this than His own mother? No one. Though she was conceived in grace, receiving the singular privilege of being preserved from original sin from the first moment of her existence, she still possessed free will. Like Adam and Eve—who were created in a state of original innocence—Mary could have freely chosen to turn from God in selfishness and sin. But she didn’t.
Throughout her life, the Mother of God, who was conceived immaculately, chose, by her free will, to cooperate with grace in every moment. Furthermore, unlike Lucifer—who, according to tradition, saw the glory of his being and desired to exalt himself as god—Mary, seeing the glory of her Immaculate Heart, chose the path of humility and perfect obedience. She never exalted herself but always magnified the Lord.
Today’s Gospel, in fact, highlights a central mystery and glory of her life: her humility. Jesus knew her humility. As her divine Son, He knew her better than she knew herself. He created her and loved her with the perfection of divine love. Out of that love, He revealed her hidden sanctity by speaking a truth that many might misunderstand but that she, in her simplicity and grace, would fully understand. That truth Jesus spoke would be proclaimed for all eternity: She, more than anyone else, heard the Word of God and acted upon it.
This statement is glorious because it highlights Mary’s virtue and reveals the depth of her relationship with Jesus. Their bond was not merely biological. She was not first and foremost His mother because she gave birth to Him but because she heard His Word and responded to it with perfect fidelity. That is why she is the most perfect disciple.
While it would be an unimaginable gift to be Jesus’ mother or one of His biological relatives, Jesus uses this moment to extend an even greater invitation to all of us to become His spiritual kin. He opens the door for all to share in the dignity of divine kinship by listening to His Word and putting it into practice. This is not a lesser calling; it is the very heart of Christian discipleship.
Reflect today on the sublime vocation to which you are called. You may not have carried Christ in your womb, but you are invited to carry Him in your heart through grace and obedience. Hear His Word. Cherish it. Act upon it. In doing so, you will not only become a disciple, you will become family and a more perfect disciple.
My God and Brother, You have invited us into the family of God, not by blood but by grace and obedience. May I always live up to this calling, never seeking to elevate myself through pride, but choosing instead to humble myself in imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. May she, my spiritual mother, be my model of perfect love and my guide in true familial union with You. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, you have adopted us as your children through Baptism and welcomed us into the family of your Son. Give us the grace to hear your Word with open hearts and to put it into practice with perseverance. May our lives reveal the dignity of being your children and help us draw others into the family of your Kingdom.
1. Members of the Royal Family: Jesus has been proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, he declared that he had been sent to “proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 4:43). The Kingdom is not merely a realm over which Jesus rules. Through him, we are invited into a relationship with God as his adopted sons and daughters.
Jesus is not rejecting his mother or denying the importance of natural family relationships. Rather, he reveals that there is a deeper family relationship created by faith and obedience to God. Those who receive God’s Word and allow it to shape their lives become members of a new family centered on Christ. This family relationship begins with Baptism. Through the sacrament, we are reborn as children of God and incorporated into Christ. The Church teaches that the anointing with sacred chrism signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit and that the newly baptized person has become a Christian – one “anointed” by the Holy Spirit and incorporated into Christ, who is Priest, Prophet, and King (CCC, 1241). We therefore possess a dignity that the world cannot give us and cannot take away. We belong to Christ. We belong to his people. We have been welcomed into the household of God. And because we are members of the King's household, our lives should reflect the character of the Kingdom.
2. Hearing the Word and Doing It: Jesus’ statement today comes immediately after his teaching about the seed and the Word of God (Luke 8:4-18). The connection is important. The question is not merely whether we have heard God’s Word. The question is what happens to the Word after we hear it. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus describes those who “embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance” (Luke 8:15). He later warns his listeners, “Take care, then, how you hear” (Luke 8:18). Hearing God’s Word is therefore an active response. The Word is meant to take root, grow, and produce fruit in our lives. Jesus had made the same point earlier when he described the person who comes to him, hears his words, and acts on them as someone who builds a house on a solid foundation (Luke 6:47-48). Mary gives us the perfect example of this kind of hearing. At the Annunciation, she heard God's Word through the angel and responded, “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She did not merely understand what God was asking of her. She entrusted herself to it. Later, Luke tells us that Mary “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Mary therefore embodies what Jesus describes in today’s Gospel. She hears the Word, receives it, ponders it, and acts upon it. This gives us an important question for our own discipleship: What happens to the Word of God after I hear it? We can listen to Scripture at Mass, read the Bible, hear a homily, study the faith, and have countless opportunities to encounter God’s Word. But the goal of all this hearing is transformation. The Word should affect the decisions we make, the way we treat other people, the priorities we establish, the sacrifices we accept, and the sins we are willing to abandon. The Word of God becomes fruitful when it becomes the pattern of our lives.
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.” Luke 8:19–21
The term “brothers” in this passage is obviously not to be understood that Jesus had blood brothers. It is a dogma of our faith that Jesus was the only Child of Mary. At that time, it was common practice to refer to one’s extended family as “brothers.” This would have especially applied to Jesus’ cousins and perhaps even those who were unrelated by blood but were from the same village.
As these relatives of Jesus stood outside and announced their presence, what did they expect Jesus to do? His “brothers” might have been there to try to talk some sense into Him. We know from other passages in the Gospels that some of Jesus’ extended family thought He was out of His mind. Therefore, it is possible that these brothers were there to resolve an extended family conflict that was erupting as Jesus began His public ministry.
Jesus’ response was not a rude response. This is clear from the fact that Jesus lived the perfection of charity. But true charity is always grounded in the truth. Jesus spoke a truth that cut through the merely human ties and conflicts that were driving these brothers. By saying, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it,” Jesus was challenging His brothers to stop looking at Him only in an earthly way. Everyone, including His relatives, needed to learn to see Jesus as the Son of the Father in Heaven. It was the act of accepting Jesus’ divine identity and submitting in obedience to the will of the Father that established a much deeper bond with Him. That is the relationship that Jesus desired with His earthly brothers.
The mother of Jesus, on the other hand, was also perfect in every way. She was free from the disorder of sin and even her mind was clear, being filled with perfect wisdom and understanding. Therefore, when it was reported to her what Jesus said, she would have understood and believed.
Saint Bede says that when we hear the word of God and obey it, we become Jesus’ “mother” by bringing Him forth into the world through our words and actions. This also makes us Jesus’ “brothers” because our obedience makes us all children of the Father in Heaven.
By the gift of the fullness of grace, our Blessed Mother would have fully understood that her unity with her Son was primarily the result of their shared obedience to the Father’s will. She not only experienced the Son of God being conceived within her womb, she also had the profound experience of conceiving Him in her heart through her obedience to the will of the Father. That “conception” of Jesus within her Immaculate Heart would have been unmistakably clear to her and the cause of her greatest joy. For that reason, she would have treasured this spiritual motherhood of her Son as the greatest gift of all, even more than the gift of natural motherhood.
Reflect, today, upon the fact that you are also invited to be the “mother” and the “brother” of Jesus. You share in these holy callings through obedience to the will of the Father. The more clearly you hear God speak and the more fully you obey all that He says will determine the depth of spiritual union you have with Him. Our natural selves must give way to the supernatural life of grace. Make the choice, with our Blessed Mother, to pursue the glorious life of grace so that you will conceive the Son of God in your heart, become a true child of the Father in Heaven, and become a spiritual brother or sister of our Lord.
My divine Lord, Your love for Your earthly mother was perfect in every way. That earthly bond was transformed and elevated by Your spiritual union with her on account of Your mutual obedience to the will of the Father. Please draw me into Your divine Family by helping me to listen to and to obey all that the Father speaks. Jesus, I trust in You.
Opening Prayer: Lord God, open my ears to hear your Word and Wisdom! Move my heart and will to put your holy word into practice. Overcome my stubbornness and resistance to your will. Your will is the path that leads to eternal life with you. I want to follow this path always.
1. The New Royal Family of Jesus: In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has been proclaiming the Gospel and the arrival of God’s Kingdom (Luke 4:43). And someone could think that they can be a subject in the kingdom but not part of the royal family. What Jesus proclaims to us today is that we are truly members of the royal family. When Jesus’ mother and cousins arrived, they weren’t able to get to Jesus because of the crowd. And when Jesus was told of his natural family’s arrival, he took the opportunity to teach an important dimension of the kingdom: “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Luke 8:21). When we were baptized, we were reborn into the royal family of God. “The anointing [at Baptism] with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop, signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a Christian, that is, one ‘anointed’ by the Holy Spirit, incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king” (CCC, 1241).
1. Jesus and the Path of Wisdom: Jesus teaches the path of wisdom in the Gospel. He calls us to the obedience of faith, to hear the Word of God and act on it. This is the way true sons and daughters of God act; this is the way the brothers and sisters of Christ act. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is blessed not only because she was chosen to be the Mother of God, but also because she walked blamelessly in the way of the Lord. She gave her complete yes to God’s Word and considered herself as the handmaid of the Lord. All generations call her blessed and seek to imitate her unconditional acceptance of God’s will.
2. The Second Collection of Solomon’s Proverbs: Today’s First Reading is taken from the Second Collection of Solomon’s proverbs (Proverbs 10:1-22:16). Many of these proverbs have to do with the two ways: the way of wisdom and life and the way of foolishness and death. The righteous are those who listen to the voice of wisdom and lead a life of prayer. They are urged to trust in the Lord and to be diligent in work, humble in spirit, open to correction, and committed to truthful and guarded speech (see Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, 14). The senseless, by contrast, are given to pride, laziness, drunkenness, and all manner of perverse and deceitful speech. They tend to be merciless, contentious, and quick-tempered. They have no qualms about perverting justice and conducting crooked business deals. What is worse, they despise correction from others that would lead them toward wisdom. “The way of folly is ultimately ‘the way of evil’ (2:12), and the one who follows it ‘dies for lack of discipline’ (5:23)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, 14).
3. Empty Sacrifices vs. Works of Mercy: In particular, our First Reading sees the foolish as having haughty eyes and proud hearts. The fruit of their work is sin. Those who are wicked desire evil; those who are arrogant will be punished; those who are indifferent to the cry of the poor will not be heard when they cry out in their need. We are called in the Psalm to reject the way of the foolish and to walk in the law of the Lord. When we meditate on God’s deeds and seek to understand his precepts, we can be led by God along the path of life, the path of his commandments. What God desires, more than empty sacrifices, is for us to imitate him and do what is right, just, and merciful. The sacrifice of our lives – our self-offering – is not empty when it is united to that of Christ, empowered by divine grace, and full of works of charity.
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