Gospel according to Matthew 12:46-50
These words may seem harsh, almost as if Jesus wanted to distance Himself from His Mother. In reality, He is offering the greatest praise that could be given to Mary. No one, in fact, lived the will of the Father as she did. Before being His Mother according to the flesh, Mary is the first disciple: the woman of the “Yes,” the one who welcomed the Word with a heart completely open and kept it faithfully throughout her life. Today, Jesus opens before us a wonderful perspective, inviting us to enter into His very family. It is not blood that unites us to Him, but love. It is not human bonds that make us His family, but the daily choice to listen to the Father, trust in Him, and live His will. Doing the will of God does not mean giving up our freedom, but discovering true freedom. It means allowing His love to shape our thoughts, enlighten our choices, and make our heart more and more like the heart of Christ. Every act of forgiveness, every gesture of charity, every word of peace, every sacrifice lived with love makes us ever more children of the Father and brothers and sisters of Jesus. This is our immense dignity: the Son of God does not call us servants, but brothers and sisters. He welcomes us into His home, makes us sharers in His life, and gives us a Mother who accompanies us with tenderness on the journey of faith. And this, every time I contemplate it, fills me with immense wonder before the infinite love of God. Mary continues to show us the way that leads to Jesus through her very life, silently repeating to us the words spoken at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you.” Let us ask for the grace to have a docile heart like Mary’s, so that every day we may respond to the Lord with joy: “Here I am; let Your will be done in me.” Then Jesus will also look upon us with a gaze full of love and say: “Here is my brother, here is my sister, here is my mother.” Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary works, but in saying our “Yes” to God every day. Mary teaches us that whoever welcomes the will of the Father becomes a dwelling place of Christ and belongs to His family. Heaven begins precisely when our heart opens itself completely to the love of God.
-Rosanna Dora De Lucia
