(For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother

29 JANUARY (Mk 3,31-35)

The brotherhood according to the flesh was recognized in Israel. All the children of Abraham were brothers to each other. They lived a true communion of saints, even if imperfect, and only at the beginning of its historic journey which will reach perfection in the Church.

Hezekiah sent a message to all Israel and Judah, and even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh saying that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the Lord, the God of Israel. The king, his princes, and the entire assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to celebrate the Passover during the second month, for they could not celebrate it at the time of the restoration: the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient numbers, and the people were not gathered at Jerusalem. When this proposal had been approved by the king and the entire assembly, they issued a decree to be proclaimed throughout all Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan, that everyone should come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the Lord, the God of Israel; for not many had kept it in the manner prescribed. Accordingly the couriers, with the letters written by the king and his princes, traversed all Israel and Judah, and at the king’s command they said: “Israelites, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you, the remnant left from the hands of the Assyrian kings. Be not like your fathers and your brethren who proved faithless to the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that he delivered them over to desolation, as you yourselves now see. Be not obstinate, as your fathers were; extend your hands to the Lord and come to his sanctuary that he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord, your God, that he may turn away his burning anger from you. For when you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children will find mercy with their captors and return to this land; for merciful and compassionate is the Lord, your God, and he will not turn away his face from you if you return to him.”(2Cr 30,1-9).

With Jesus another brotherhood is born: the one according to the faith. It is no longer the seed according to the flesh that makes us brothers, but it is the generation according to faith. This brotherhood becomes one body in Christ. In this brotherhood the sin of the one is also against the brothers of the same faith, as it is taught by St Paul to the Corinthians. There is the communion of saints, but also the one of sin, of death and of the loss of faith.

Now in regard to meat sacrificed to idols: we realize that “all of us have knowledge”; knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if one loves God, one is known by him. So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols: we know that “there is no idol in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist. But not all have this knowledge. There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled. Now food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do. But make sure that this liberty of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. If someone sees you, with your knowledge, reclining at table in the temple of an idol, may not his conscience too, weak as it is, be “built up” to eat the meat sacrificed to idols? Thus through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died. When you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their consciences, weak as they are, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to sin.(1Cor 8,1-13).

Today Jesus teaches that true brotherhood is only in the fulfillment of the will of his Father. The real brothers are those who hear the Word of God and observe it.

His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers (and your sisters) are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and (my) brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. (For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Outside of the observed will of God there is no true brotherhood, because one does not become life of the other, but death, scandal, sin, transgression and bad example.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us true brothers in the Lord.