21st July. Tuesday in Week 16

(also, feast of Saint Lawrence of Brindisi)

First Reading Exodus 14:21-15:1

The Egyptians hunt Israel into the sea – and are drowned

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord,
for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

Gospel: Matthew 12:46-50

Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother

While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother

Saint Lawrence of Brindisi.

Giulio Cesare Russo (1559-1619) from Brindisi, Kingdom of Naples, became a priest of the Capuchin Order in Verona, taking the name Brother Lawrence. An accomplished linguist, he spoke most European and Semitic languages fluently. Pope Clement VIII assigned him the task of converting the Jews in Rome. As general superior of his order, Lawrence established Capuchin friaries in Germany and Austria, promoting the Counter-Reformation and bringing many Protestants back to the Catholic faith.

Embracing the Wider Family

The Exodus hymn tells of Israel’s liberation and journey towards the promised land; and each stresses Israel’s separateness from all other nations. Matthew, on the contrary, sees Jesus forming a new family of outsiders, based on “whoever does the will of my Father.” This qualification enables Christianity to form a chosen people from among all nations and races, with no exclusivity. This notion can seem restrictive and even racist, yet we remember that unless we first rally together in a strong family bond, we will have little to share with others.

Only a loving family can open its doors freely to neighbours and outsiders. The Hebrew Scriptures insist that God’s chosen people should exclude all oppression. Among them, all symbols of pride and greed and dominance must be cast to the bottom of the sea, as they sang “praise to the Lord, who has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.” This symbolic gesture was remembered in Israel. God is trusted to “cast into the depths of the sea all our sins” and to “show faithfulness to Jacob.” After Israel returned from the Babylonian exile, with the people still reeling from this traumatic event, they beg for a renewal of the days of Moses, and for the favour God showed to their ancestors. But in this period of regrouping they felt it necessary to exclude all outsiders. Restored Israel first had to recover its identity in order to later open its doors and have something worthwhile to share.

Jesus opened the doors, heroically and at great cost even to his mother Mary. When his mother and brothers were seeking to speak with him, Jesus seems to pass them by. Extending his hands to the circle of his disciples, he said, “These are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is brother and sister and mother to me.”

***

Ties that bind

We greatly appreciate the members of our family, our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our other relatives. In the gospel, Jesus points to a group of people who are even more important to him than the members of his earthly family. Pointing to his disciples, to all of us, he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters.” He defines his disciples as those who do the will of his Father in heaven, as Jesus himself has revealed it to us by his teaching and by his life, death and resurrection. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel Jesus in the beatitudes declared, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” in other words, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to do God’s will.” We may not succeed in doing God’s will all the time, but if we hunger and thirst to do it, if our deepest desire is to do what God wants, then we are truly the Lord’s disciples, and, in virtue of that, his brothers and sisters, and, even, his mother. Jesus calls us to be members of his new family, the family of his disciples. This is a family that is held together not by ties of blood but by the Holy Spirit. In hungering and thirsting to do God’s will, we open ourselves to the coming of the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit makes us brothers and sisters of Jesus and of each other, and sons and daughters of God.
. [Martin Hogan]