“FOR WHOEVER DOES THE WILL OF GOD IS MY BROTHER AND SISTER AND MOTHER.” MK 3:31-35

Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.

Jesus came home with his disciples.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,”
and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself
and is divided, he cannot stand;
that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder the house.
Amen, I say to you,
all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be
forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus 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.” MK 3:20-35

Today, Jesus teaches us that the kingdom of God is more important than personal family ties. It may sound like Jesus is putting His family down, but He is making an important point, worshiping our Creator and loving others with the same love He has for us is doing His Will (commandments and beatitudes). Jesus is teaching us that doing God’s will (Thy Will be done) is what we were made for and God is even bigger than the ones we love the most, our family. His Will is living the gifts of the Holy Spirit we received at Baptism (vows: fight Satan/sin, grow in holiness) and Confirmation (soldier for Christ). We know we are achieving this when we see the fruits in our life abound: faithfulness, goodness, charity, kindness, self-control, gentleness, patience, joy, and peace. There is no law against these fruits -St. Paul. Interesting. The other important point is all of these deal with relationships. God is a Trinity, we are made in His image and likeness, we are made “to be with”.

Fr. Mike Schmitz says, a daily discernment to see if we are doing God’s Will is: 1. Did you pray today? 2. Are you in the state of grace? (don’t forget to make sure you have a correct conscience by viewing a good examination of conscience and asking a priest for sins you are not sure of that come up in your life) 3. Are you fulfilling your daily tasks? If yes to all three, then you are on the right track.

In this time and place with these people is where God put you to do His Will. The Devil will try to speed us up, make us worry, get us off track, make us want to entertain ourselves to death, put negative thoughts in our mind, put ourselves down, make bad things look good, and make us think God is trying to take away our fun. Heaven is a serious business and Jesus teaches us today it is even more important than our own family whom we love very much!

Today’s challenge: Reflect in silence each day to see if you are doing God’s Will. If you are still not sure, just ask Him. “Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door will be opened” He will make it clear in His time. He wants you to know His Will, don’t let the Devil or yourself get in the way. Be patient. Go to confession once a month.

Be a servant, become a saint!
​#Christian YOLO