Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
As I read today’s Gospel, I can imagine this scene. Not only did his family think that Jesus was out of his mind, they might have called out to him asking “What are you doing?”
I’m reminded of a conversation I had with my aunt when I was discerning religious life and before I joined the Marianist Sisters. She compared life to a ladder in which people are first born and then go to school. Then they take a step up and graduate school, get a job, get married, have children, become grandparents, and retire from their job in that order. Her point was that there was a certain order to life, so religious life as a Sister didn’t fit. She had good intentions in telling me this analogy as she was concerned about my material security. I am not the only one facing such criticism. I have seen people face similar situations, such as college students discerning to do a year of service instead of applying for a job or graduate school or people choosing to leave lucrative jobs in business to become teachers or work in nonprofit organizations. However, like these people and my call to religious life, God’s call can lead people off familiar paths suggesting that life is not about making a good living in a profitable and secure career or choosing marriage and family, both dearly held assumptions.
Jesus faced a similar situation. His call to teach and heal, which involved a lot of travel, was not understood by his relatives. He was off the familiar path of life in a culture when people married young and itinerant people were seen as suspicious. His family thought he was out of his mind. However, Jesus was in his right mind and confident in what he was called to do.
What about us? What are we doing? Are we open to listening to God’s call even if it takes us to new places and unconventional paths? Do we support others as they follow God’s call even when it’s difficult to understand? I pray that we all have the grace for such understanding and courage.
-Sr. Emily Sandoval, FMI