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From: Proverbs 21:1-6, 10-13

The way of the wise

[1] The king’’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
[2] Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
[3] To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
[4] Haughty eyes and a proud heart,
the lamp of the wicked, are sin.
[5] The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,
but every one who is hasty comes only to want.
[6] The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
is a fleeting vapour and a snare of death.

[10] The soul of the wicked desires evil;
his neighbour finds no mercy in his eyes.
[11] When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise;
when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.
[12] The righteous observes the house of the wicked;
the wicked are cast down to ruin.
[13] He who closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself cry out and not be heard.

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Commentary:

The Navarre has no commentary for this reading. Please reflect on God’s word
and invite the Holy Spirit to enter your heart with His inspiration.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 8:19-21

The True Kinsmen of Jesus

[19] Then His (Jesus’) mother and His brethren came to Him, but they could not
reach Him for the crowd. [20] And He was told, “Your mother and your brethren
are standing outside, desiring to see You.” [21] But He said to them, “My mother
and my brethren are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

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Commentary:

19-21. These words of our Lord show us that fulfillment of the Will of God is more
important than kinship and that, therefore, our Lady is more united to her Son by
virtue of her perfect fulfillment of what God asked of her, than by the Holy Spirit’s
using her to make Christ’s body (cf. notes on Matthew 12:48-50 and Mark 3:31-
35).

[Notes on Matthew 12:48-50 states:

48-50. Jesus obviously loved His Mother and St. Joseph. He uses this episode
to teach us that in His Kingdom human ties do not take precedence. In Luke 8:
19 the same teaching is to be found. Jesus regards the person who does the will
of His Heavenly Father as a member of His own family. Therefore, even though it
means going against natural family feelings, a person should do just that when
needs be in order to perform the mission the Father has entrusted to him (cf.
Luke 2:49).

We can say that Jesus loved Mary more because of the bonds between them
created by grace than because He was her son by natural generation: Mary’s
divine motherhood is the source of all our Lady’s other prerogatives; but this very
motherhood is, in its turn, the first and greatest of the graces with which Mary
was endowed.]

[Notes on Mark 3:31-35 states:

31-35. In Aramaic, the language used by the Jews, the word “brethren” is a broad
term indicating kinship: nephews, first cousins, and relatives in general are called
‘brethren’ (for further explanation cf. note on Mark 6:1-3). “Jesus did not say this
to disown His mother, but to show that she is worthy of honor not only account of
having given birth to Jesus, but also because she has all the virtues” (Theoplylact,
“Enarratio In Evangelium Marci, in loc.”).

Therefore, the Church reminds us that the Blessed Virgin “in the course of her
Son’s preaching received the words whereby, in extolling a kingdom beyond the
concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and
kept the word of God as she was faithfully doing” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”,
58).

Our Lord, then, is also telling us that if we follow Him we will share His life more
intimately than if were a member of His family. St. Thomas explains this by sa-
ying that Christ “had an eternal generation and a generation in time, and gave
preference to the former. Those who do the will of the Father reach Him by hea-
venly generation [...]. Everyone who does the will of the Father, that is to say,
who obeys Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he is like Him who ful-
filled the will of His Father. But he who not only obeys but converts others, be-
gets Christ in them, and thus becomes like the Mother of Christ” (”Commentary
on St. Matthew”, 12, 49-50.)]

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.