Tuesday, September 20, 2011

To be family

     In today's gospel Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were outside and wanted to see him.  He said: "My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it."  What does it mean to be family.  We have the comfort and security of having been nurtured by a family rooted in the Word and challenged to take that Word which transforms our life and put it into action.  For most of us, difficult as it may be at times to do that, it is an easy thing.

     But in our readings from Ezra in the Hebrew Scriptures we also meet Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes who were not of the family, but upon hearing the Word of God allowed their actions to reflect the transforming power of the Word that they had heard in their hearts.  They allowed their captives to go home and rebuild a temple for their God, even to the point of supporting the project.  This made no logical sense, it was not the practice of the conquering nation, but they were acting on the Word that had been given them.  They, too, became a part of the family.

    Today the Church honors the Korean martyrs, Andrew Kim Taegon and Paul Chong Hasang and their companions.  These were individuals who were part of a culture that was hostile to outside influences and foreign ways.  Yet when their ancestors, a century before, heard the Word of God,they were so moved that they brought the faith with them and kept it in their hearts.  In the one hundred years following the martyrdom of Paul Youn and James Kouen in 1791, over ten thousand Korean Christians were cruelly executed.  And this was a church of few if any priests, but of a strong and vibrant laity.  Andrew was the first Korean priest, ordained in 1845 and executed one year later.  Paul was a lay catechist, and the 103 companions listed represent an entire people that became part of the family by hearing the Word of God and acting on it.  And they stand as tremendous witnesses.

     Being family involves more than biology or adoption or heritage ... it involves the unique call of God to come to him and follow him and serve him in love.  We are one family.

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