Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus’ Real Relatives
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. The Prophet Micah assures God’s people that God forgives them their infidelity. The people answer with a hymn of praise and trust.
Gospel. Jesus assures us that what brings us close to God and makes us his relatives is doing the Father’s will. This is all that matters, more than ties of blood. This mission was the core and meaning of Jesus’ life and death. Let us pray that his faithfulness may also be ours.
Opening Prayer
God, Father of all,
You know and love us;
whatever happens to us,
We are in your hands.
Wherever you lead us,
You know where you want us to go.
We ask you for faith and trust.
Make your will our will,
that you may lead us to your home
under his guidance of him
who did your will in everything,
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
First Reading
Guide your people with your staff; tend the flock of your inheritance that dwells alone in the scrub, amid fertile land. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old, during the times when you led them out of Egypt. Show us your wonders.
Who is a God like you, who takes away guilt and pardons crime for the remnant of his inheritance?Who is like you, whose anger does not last? For you delight in merciful forgiveness.
Once again, you will show us your loving-kindness and trample on our wrongs, casting all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (8a) Lord, show us your mercy and love.
You have favored, O LORD, your land;
you have brought back the captives of Jacob.
You have forgiven the guilt of your people;
you have covered all their sins.
You have withdrawn all your wrath;
you have revoked your burning anger.
R. Lord, show us your mercy and love.
Restore us, O God our savior,
and abandon your displeasure against us.
Will you be ever angry with us,
prolonging your anger to all generations?
R. Lord, show us your mercy and love.
Will you not instead give us life;
and shall not your people rejoice in you?
Show us, O LORD, your kindness,
and grant us your salvation.
R. Lord, show us your mercy and love.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
While Jesus was talking to the people, his mother and brothers wanted to speak to him, so they waited outside.
So someone said to him:
“Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with you.”
Jesus asked:
“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
Then he pointed to his disciples and said:
“Look! Here are my mother and my brothers.
Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother.”
Prayers of the Faithful
– That the people of God may always pray that they may seek your will rather than try to force you to do their will, we pray:
– That the Lord may give us the insight to discern his will in the events of life, we pray:
– That we may be true sons and daughters of God by seeking and doing his will in everyday life, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God, our Father,
this bread and this wine
are signs that with Jesus, your Son,
we are ready to seek your will.
Allow us to share in his table
as his brothers and sisters
and to follow him on his loyal way
to you, our God forever.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
You have given us a world
to master and to develop
According to your wise plans
and to build up the body of Christ
in solidarity.
May we do so by the strength
of Jesus himself
and make this Church and this world
a communion of faith and hope,
of love and peace,
as a sign and a way
to your joy that lasts forever.
Blessing
Brothers and sisters of Jesus… How many of us are there? We pray very often the Our Father and ask him that his will be done on earth as in heaven. That’s what we pray for, so that’s what we are committed to. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 12:46-50
Our blood relations are highly valued, and we deeply cherish our family members, most importantly, our parents and siblings. However, in today’s Gospel passage for our reflection, Jesus identifies a group of individuals who are more important to him than his family.
Pointing to his disciples, he says, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters’. Jesus challenges his listeners to become his family and sets a new criterion for becoming the Family of God: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother” (v. 50).
The concept of this Family of God became a binding force for the community of disciples, especially after the Pentecost experience. They lived together as a family, sharing everything and were willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of their brothers and sisters – their new-found family.
Jesus ate with sinners, assuring them that they, too, had a place at the Father’s table. He touched those considered to be unclean, and by letting himself be touched by them, he helped them realise that God was with them.
Pope Francis, during his visit to Thailand in 2019, spoke about this “family of Jesus, which also includes children and women who are victims of prostitution and human trafficking, young people enslaved by drug addiction and a lack of meaning, migrants, deprived of their homes and families, exploited fishermen and bypassed beggars. All of them are part of our family. They are our mothers, our brothers and sisters. Let us not prevent them from experiencing the merciful balm of God’s love that heals their wounds and pains.”