Our Relationship with God

Jul 23: Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today is the Memorial of Saint Bridget of Sweden. She was a typical wife and mother (of eight!), until her husband passed away after 28 years of happy marriage.

While obviously sad, becoming a widow wasn’t the end for St. Bridget. Her relationship with God was central to her life. That extended to her husband and children, and beyond to the church itself.

She became a religious sister, and moved to Rome. She had visions of Mary, and preached moving sermons about our Holy Mother. She famously admonished the pope to return to Rome from his exile in Avignon. In 1370 she received approval for the Order of the Most Holy Savior, a monastic community of men and women.

Reading 1 

Mi 7:14-15, 18-20

Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, That dwells apart in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old; As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt, show us wonderful signs. Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins; You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, As you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

This is the tail end of Micah, a prophet who most foretold the doom of Israel. But that’s no way to end a book of the Bible. People need to be reminded that “the end” is not the end.

This is true for us individually as well as the for the nations.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 85:2-4, 5-6, 7-8

R. (8a) Lord, show us your mercy and love.
You have favored, O LORD, your land;
you have brought back the captives of Jacob.
You have forgiven the guilt of your people;
you have covered all their sins.
You have withdrawn all your wrath;
you have revoked your burning anger. 
R. Lord, show us your mercy and love.
Restore us, O God our savior,
and abandon your displeasure against us.
Will you be ever angry with us,
prolonging your anger to all generations?
R. Lord, show us your mercy and love.
Will you not instead give us life;
and shall not your people rejoice in you?
Show us, O LORD, your kindness,
and grant us your salvation. 
R. Lord, show us your mercy and love.

God has rescued Israel before, only for them to backslide into sin and idolatry. This is a constant and regular cycle in our relationship with God. We drift away, and come back. The only constant is that God still loves us and will accept our sincere contrition.

Alleluia 

Jn 14:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Simple saying we love God isn’t enough. We show our love by doing god’s will.

Gospel 

Mt 12:46-50

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.”

But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Blood relations are important, but if we rightly orient our lives, they’re not the most important thing. We can all be brothers and sisters in Christ, if we do His will.