Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

“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 and Joseph.

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 (gifts to be soldiers 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, modesty, chastity, generosity, 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 about 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, tempt us to worry about everything, get us off track, tempt us to overcriticize ourselves and others, tempt us to want to entertain ourselves to death, tempt us to put ourselves down or think less of ourselves compared to others, tempt us to see bad things as good, and tempt us to think God is trying to take away our fun with His commands (God is a loving Father trying to protect us from misery and get us back to His loving arms in heaven). 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, be a saint today!
​#Christian YOLO