Sisters in Christ on a Youth Retreat |
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"...When told that his mother and his brothers are outside (Mark 3:31-35), Jesus replied: "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sisters, and mother." In the place of blood relationship, and surpassing it, is set spiritual relationship. For Jesus, brothers are those who are united with him in the common acceptance of the will of God. The difference from the ideology of the Enlightenment and the general brotherhood of the Stoics is obvious: brotherhood is not seen naturalistically, as an original phenomenon of nature, but depends on a decision of the spirit, a saying "yes" to the will of God. "...It is Mark 10:29, where Jesus promises to him who leaves his brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or lands for his sake and in order to preach the gospel, the return of all he had left even in this life, even though there would be persecutions as well. It is surely true to say that the new and greater family that is here promised to the missionary is composed of the members of the Christian communities looked after by him. This is, in fact, the same idea as before, only more strongly influenced by the idea of an already existent Christian community. It follows that the community of will with the Father is conceived more concretely, too, as acceptance of the Christian faith " (excerpted from Christian Brotherhood, by Joseph Ratzinger, 1966) |
Detroit Summer Outreach
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