Who are my mother and (my) brothers?

TUESDAY 28 JANUARY (Mk 3,31-36)

What Jesus says to his Apostles, applies infinitely more for his Person. Christ the Lord chooses his Father. He is only from his will. He loves everyone but from the will of his Father: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’ “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward”” (Mt 10,34-42). If Jesus loved from his heart, from his will, from his desires or thoughts, he could no longer be of the Father. God does not want a part of us. He wants all of us. He doesn’t know what to do with people who give themselves to him in parts.

The rules for being his disciples and apostles are also well defined. We surrender to Christ, we must forget the world. The before delivery does not exist: “As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “(Lord,) let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”  (To him) Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God”” (Lk 9,57-62). If the before exists, the after will be conditioned. One is of Christ and of the world. Of heaven and earth. From God and from us. This mixture is not pleasing to the Lord, because he cannot dispose of our life in everything. He cannot send us to Nineveh to preach, because we are engaged in our affairs. If we give our life to Him, it must always be from his will. If we keep it for ourselves, it will have to be only from his Gospel, to bring it into the great holiness. The whole life of Jesus is of the Father. He lives to do only the will of the Father today, tomorrow and always.

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.”

A person’s life is fulfilled in time. If life is of the Father, time is also of the Father. Can Jesus take time from his Father to give himself to others? This is the reason why He replies: “Here is my mother and my brothers! Because whoever does the will of God, this is for me brother, sister and mother”. The Virgin Mary knows that Jesus is entirely of his Father. She respects the gift made by Jesus to the Father. She is the true Mother. His relatives do not respect the gift made by Jesus to the Father. They are not his true brothers. For him they are a true temptation. They come to distract him from his mission. In the Holy Spirit, Jesus sees the danger and does not fall into it. Whoever consecrates himself to Christ the Lord must be entirely His. He belongs to Him, if He is from Him. He is from Him, if He is always from His will. Being of Him only for a few moments and not even from his will, it is not being His. We are of ourselves. Even the mission is from ourselves. If it is from ourselves, it will never produce fruits of eternal life. Never will Jesus make his own a thing that is ours, done from our will. From the moment you decide to be his, you have to be it in everything and always. The gift is irreversible. One does not give himself and takes himself back again.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that our gift is full without turning back.