Reading Francis

Who’s really family?

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“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.’”

-Matthew 12:46-50

This Gospel passage, which shows up in today’s daily mass readings, reminds me of something that came up in my recent retreat that surprised me. I had brought along a book of St. Francis of Assisi’s writings; it’s a pretty light paperback, because Francis was far more of a doer than a writer. But in it is a letter he wrote to the lay faithful in 1221 that opens with a couple of paragraphs that reference and recast this Gospel in a dramatic way.

To all those who love the Lord with their whole heart, with their whole soul and mind, with their whole strength (cf. Mk 12:30) and love their neighbors as themselves (cf. Mt 22:39) and hate their bodies with their vices and sins, and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and produce worthy fruits of penance: Oh, how happy and blessed are these men and women when they do these things and persevere in doing them, since the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon them (cf. Is 11:2) and He will make His home and dwelling among them (cf. Jn 14:23). They are children of the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:45) whose works they do, and they are spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Mt 12:50).

We are spouses when the faithful soul is joined to our Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are brothers to Him when we do the will of the Father Who is in Heaven (Mt 12:50); mothers, when we carry Him in our heart and body (cf. 1 Cor 6:20) through divine love and pure and sincere conscience and when we give birth to Him through a holy manner of working, which should shine before others as an example (cf. Mt 5:16). Oh, how glorious it is, how holy and great, to have a Father in Heaven! Oh, how holy, consoling, beautiful and wondrous it is to have such a Spouse! Oh, how holy and how loving, pleasing, humble, peaceful, sweet, lovable, and desirable above all things to have such a Brother and such a Son: our Lord Jesus Christ.

This idea, that we are spouses of Christ through contemplation, brothers of Christ through obedience, and mothers of Christ in our example, is a lot to take in. As an organizing principle of life, balancing time in contemplation, obedience and lived example covers a lot of ground.

I’m still processing this idea, so I don’t have any neat takeaways for you tonight. If you want to read the whole letter from St. Francis, you can find a copy here.