"When we learn to say a deep, passionate yes to the things that really matter... then peace begins to settle onto our lives"

'Obedience is mission: "I have come into this world to do the will of my Father, who has sent me." Where there is no obedience, there is no virtue; where there is no virtue there is no good; where good is wanting, there is no love, there is no God; where God is not, there is no Heaven.' - Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (1887 – 1968:  was a friar, priest, stigmatist, and mystic, now venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church.)

Gospel Text: (LK 8:19-21)

The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him

but were unable to join him because of the crowd.

He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside

and they wish to see you.”

He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers

are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

Today, we might take the very last sentence of today’s First Reading from Mass (Proverbs 21:1-6,10-13): “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor / will himself also call and not be heard.” What does this mean? Is this proverb talking about you? Who are the poor, and what can I do to help them?

We should turn this proverb over in our soul, keeping in mind the words of the LORD Jesus in today’s Gospel passage: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it .”