Hello Family,

You might be wondering why I call you family when other times I used the word "friends".  Well,  I think it is well worth noting today that the Gospel reading we heard this weekend has Jesus providing us with a ticket of admission right into his family circle.  you will recall that when someone shouted out to him that "your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you," Jesus replied by asking, "Who are my mother and brothers?"  And he looked around at the crowd surrounding him and continued: "Here are my mother and brothers.  For whoever  does the will of God is my brother, sister and mother."  Whoever does the will of God... let us think about that for a moment.

We know from St. Paul's letters that the early Christians spontaneously used kinship language ("brother, sister") to speak of the community that sprang from following Jesus and understanding his way of life as doing the will of God.  Those baptized into Christ become brother and sister with a bond that is deeper than the natural kinship of family.  Here is a unity deeper than blood.  In today's Gospel, Mark illustrates that reality in this encounter between Jesus and the relatives.  People responding to the will of God revealed in Jesus find kinship deeper than family.

​Fr. Alex Ureña