Memorial of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi: Franciscan Priest, and Doctor of the Church

 Lectionary 396

As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,
show us wonderful signs.Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt
and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;
Who does not persist in anger forever,
but delights rather in clemency....

A casual reader of Saint Matthew's Gospel, unfamiliar with Catholic devotions and doctrine, might suppose the Lord refused to see his mother and brothers when they arrived. When someone told him they were outside, he didn't immediately wrap up his teaching and go out to see them. 

Rather, he took their arrival as an opportunity to say something very important, and rather startling. That abrupt reply might remind us of what Micah was teaching us about God in today's first reading, "Who is there like you?" 

Jesus had been given the authority of God himself; He redefined relationships according to God's original plan. A family, even his own, might not be what we thought it was!

As I read the scriptures and consider the Sacrament of Marriage, I notice that the "ur-marriage" is not that of Adam and Eve. It is the covenant of the God of Abraham and the People of Israel. Christians understand it as the marriage of Jesus and his bride, the Church. Saint Paul alludes to that covenanted human relationship in his letter to the Ephesians, 

Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. 

As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,

that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Saint John's Revelation, chapter 21, describes the nuptial appearance of the Church as 

...the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them.

Growing up in a family where husband and wife love one another and their children -- as God intended -- a Catholic child supposes that God is like their own father, and Mary is like their own mother. This can be a wonderful thing for a fortunate child. However, it can be a serious impairment where the child's parents are not happily married, where their relationship is troubled and emotionally, sexually, or physically violent. Children, told that their parents love one another and them, suppose that love is how their parents act. That might not be helpful. 

Eventually every Christian has to recognize their father and mother as brother and sister in the Lord. The Father of Jesus is my father; and the Mother of Jesus is my mother. 

Likewise we must find our true brothers and sisters among those who "do the will of my heavenly Father. They are my brothers and sisters and mother." We certainly should love our biological kin, and show them deep respect and dependable affection. But we might not look to them for the support of a faith community or fellowship in Christ. For that every Christian must turn to the Church and to the Lord, especially to the Holy Spirit who draws us together. 

I hear the apartness of one's kin and the Church in Micah's words where we appear as the Lord's sheep:

Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

That dwells apart in a woodland,

in the midst of Carmel.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,

as in the days of old....

We are his people, the flock of the Lord. We are his sheep, and he is our shepherd. In Him we find wisdom, authority, and our mission of love for friend and foe, kith and kin.