Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest
Today is the first full day of autumn and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It’s a new season, and for our Jewish brothers and sisters, a new year. Our short Gospel tells us that Mary and Jesus’ relatives come to see him but can’t really get to him because of the crowd. When alerted, Jesus notes that those closest to him are those who “hear the word of God and act on it.” While this might seem a slight to his mother and blood relatives, Jesus is emphasizing that true relationship with him is linked to listening to, hearing and acting according to God’s word.
This is actually a favorite passage of mine and one that I studied at length when working on my Master’s degree in theology. If you take this little section in context of the beginning and middle of Chapter 8 in Luke – you recognize that Jesus is praising his mother – and the “women who accompanied him” (verses 1-3). What lies in the middle is all about the parable of the sower and those who have “rich soil” that yields a great harvest (actually an impossible harvest – a hundredfold!). These are praised for hearing the word and acting on it.
I would add that the first reading from the Book of Ezra gives another astonishing example of hearing the word. The foreign kings, Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes are credited with recognizing the people of Israel, releasing the from exile and providing the means for them to rebuild their lives and the Temple. This compassion for people who are the “strangers and aliens” that Moses insisted be cared for and protected is a clear example of those who hear the word of God and act. It is an apt example for our own day and time. So as we enter this new season and this new year let us be attentive to the ways God is speaking to us, prompting us, urging us – and act on it!
—Sr. Laura Leming, FMI