My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear what we may think of our Lord showing disrespect to His Mother and his relatives. He seems dismissive to the fact that they were present to see Him. But was he disrespectful or dismissive to them?

The Virgin Mary, who said yes to the angel Gabriel, knew and understood what Jesus was all about. She was the first of His followers and willing to always be obedient to the Holy Will of God. Our Lord, in today’s gospel, is calling all of us who follow Him to be His mother and brothers and sisters by listening to the Word of God through Holy Scripture, which we hear each day at Mass, and bring what we know about the Lord from scripture into our daily lives with those in our family and those who we either work with or come into contact within our day-to-day existence. We are called to live out our Christian lives in a way that’s pleasing to God and obvious to others that we are indeed Catholic Christians.

Being followers of Christ is not always easy. The saints we commemorate today are Saints Andrew Kim Tai-gon, and Paul Chong Ha-sang and their companions. It was during the mid-1800’s that Missionaries entered Korea to bring the Good News of the Gospel to those in that country. Eventually more than a hundred people were Martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ, including the priest and pastor, Andrew Kim, and a layperson Paul Chong. Additionally, there were laity, men and women, married and unmarried, children, young people and the elderly that died in Korea for faith in Jesus Christ. They knew and lived these words Jesus spoke in today’s gospel, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” They chose to die rather than to give up their faith in Jesus Christ.

We ourselves more than likely will not face martyrdom for our faith in Jesus Christ, but we need to remain steadfast in our sharing our faith with all we come into contact with. There will be times that people will argue with us about our faith in Jesus Christ, but like today’s Martyrs from Korea, we are to be living examples of what it means to be Christian in a world that rejects all we hold holy and dear: that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.