The Gospel for the memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the church, is taken from Mark, third chapter 31st to the 35th verse. The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you. He said to them in reply, who are my mother and my brothers?

In looking around at those seated in the circle, he said, here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. When Jesus, mother and brothers appear while Jesus is teaching, it triggers in him a way of talking about what he is and what he does. He is there for everyone. He offers intimacy to everyone and everyone who believes in him and sees in him the truth and lives that truth is family is intimately tied together. It’s a beautiful way of describing what it means to be a believer.

It is an intimate relationship stronger than any other relationship in the world. Please take a few moments to reflect upon the meaning of these passages and I will return with a closing prayer. Closing Prayer Father, we have so many divisions in the world, people that are acceptable to us, people who are not. And over and over again, Jesus reminds us of the oneness that he calls us into. A union, a communion, a church, a faith based, loving community that wants nothing more than to welcome everyone. It’s at the heart of what it means to be a believer, to be in a loving community.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.