Gospel: January 28, 2025

January 28, 2025 (Tuesday)

3rd Week in Ordinary Time

Psalter: Week 3 / (White)

St. Thomas Aquinas, priest & doctor

Ps 40:2 & 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11

Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will

See Also

Gospel: March 4, 2025

1st Reading: Hebrews 10:1-10

Gospel: Mark 3:31-35

Then his mother and his brothers came. As they stood outside, they sent someone to call him. The crowd sitting around Jesus told him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” He replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those who sat there, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me.”

Reflection:

“Who are my mother and my brothers?”

At first, the words of Jesus might seem to be pushing his family away. “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” He replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” But Christ’s words are not words of exclusion or distancing. Rather, they are words which include and widen the sense of belonging. His family is not only his relatives, but all who do the will of God. “Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me.” You can be a member of a family but not have much interest or involvement in it, or you can have a strong bond with your family. Through our Baptism we become adopted members of God’s family. We are related to Christ, but the choice is up to us whether we want to be closely united to him. Jesus wants there to be deeper connection between him and us; to be true, close brothers and sisters. That deeper connection is fostered through daily prayer. It is that prayer, both public and private, which Saint Thomas Aquinas saw as central to his very existence, making all his intellectual achievements seem slight in comparison.