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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Exod 14,21—15,1): Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided, the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left. The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea. In the night watch just before dawn the Lord cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic; and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the Egyptians.

Then the Lord told Moses, «Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and their charioteers». So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth. The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the Lord hurled them into its midst. As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh's whole army that had followed the children of Israel into the sea. Not a single one of them escaped. But the children of Israel had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of the Egyptians. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore and beheld the great power that the Lord had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord: I will sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
Responsorial Psalm: 15
R/. Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory.
At the breath of your anger the waters piled up, the flowing waters stood like a mound, the flood waters congealed in the midst of the sea. The enemy boasted, «I will pursue and overtake them; I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them; I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!».

When your wind blew, the sea covered them; like lead they sank in the mighty waters. When you stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them!

And you brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place where you made your seat, o Lord, the sanctuary, o Lord, which your hands established.
Versicle before the Gospel (Jn 14:23): Alleluia. Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mt 12:46-50): While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

“For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Fr. Pere SUÑER i Puig SJ (Barcelona, Spain)

Today, the Gospel presents us with a surprising opening: “Who is my mother?” (Mt 12:48), Jesus asks. It seems as if the Lord has a dismissive attitude toward Mary. This is not the case. What Jesus wants to make clear here is that in his eyes —the eyes of God! — a person's true worth does not lie in the fact that they are made of flesh and blood, but in the spiritual disposition to accept God's will: “Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother’” (Mt 12:49-50). At that moment, God's will was for him to evangelize those He was speaking to and for them to listen to him. That took precedence over any other value, no matter how dear it might be. To do the Father's will, Jesus Christ had left Mary and was now preaching far from home.

But who has been more willing to do God's will than Mary? “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). For this reason, St. Augustine says that Mary first received the word of God in her spirit through obedience, and only then conceived it in her womb through the Incarnation.

In other words: God loves us to the extent of our holiness. Mary is most holy and, therefore, most beloved. However, being holy is not the reason God loves us. On the contrary, because He loves us, He makes us holy. The Lord is always the first to love (cf. 1 Jn 4:10). Mary teaches us this when she says: “He has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness” (Lk 1:48). In God's eyes we are small; but He wants to exalt us, to sanctify us.

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “Whatever the hand of my Lord holds out to me I will accept with gladness, submission and love. Your holy will is my repose. In it is contained all my sanctity, and all my eternal salvation, for doing God's will is the greatest glory.” (Saint Faustina Kowalska)

  • “We must learn to entrust ourselves more to divine Providence, to ask God for the strength to come out of ourselves and to conform our will to his” (Francis)

  • “Becoming a disciple of Jesus means accepting the invitation to belong to God's family, to live in conformity with His way of life: ‘For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother’ (Mt 12:49).” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 2233)

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July 12th
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

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