TITLES AND RECOGNITIONS
Do not cling to any entitlement. Once you do, you are bound to be disappointed
because you will not be alone in the quest for the privilege you are
eyeing for. Chances are, many other people will try to grab the same, and it will be a circus out there. You will end up fighting for something that was not yours in the first place.
We see this exactly in the Gospel reading today. In the midst of the
unruly crowd amazed with the preaching and miracles of Jesus, His mother
and brothers wanted to get close to Him, but it was impossible.
Somebody called Jesus’ attention to it, but Jesus only replied, “My
mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on
it.”
What is the Lord actually saying to us today? He wants us to be like
His mother and brothers who listen to His Word and abide by them, and
not merely become bystanders and onlookers. Even to His own mother,
Jesus would not as easily bestow the privileged title of being His only
mother, but instead, opens the doors for anyone who listens and follows
Him, to be His mother and brothers.
I can only assume that this statement of Jesus reached Mary and His disciples, but they did not mind because they were confident of Jesus’ love — the kind of love which includes others worthy of the same love they had experienced from Him.
Do not long for the ocean unless you are ready to experience unquenchable
thirst. Stop trying. Surrender. You can live without the titles, which,
until today, you hold dear to you. If you really are doing what you are supposed to be doing, fulfilling what you are supposed to be fulfilling, and
satisfying what you are supposed to be satisfying, then your actions
will speak highly of who you are. There is no more need for you to cling
to mere titles and empty labels that only men formulated. And Mary and
Jesus’ disciples knew
this too well. Fr. Erick Y. Santos, OFS
REFLECTION QUESTION: Can you now consider yourself worthy of being called Jesus’ mother and brother?
Lord, allow me to serve You quietly and humbly just like Mary. Amen.
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