Jesus of Nazareth - our Brother

 Next in our preparation for enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus we rejoice that our Lord, Jesus Christ is not content that we be “friends”, indeed, He desires that we be “brothers & sisters” of Him who is Lord, and King.  This explains so much of the familial imagery and language used not only in the Gospels, but throughout the Scriptures – both Old and New Testaments.

But how do we become brothers & sisters of Christ, Who is God?  That’s the easy part: Baptism!  The hard part is this: God has done His part; what’s left is for us to do our part in activating the graces given us through that singularly important sacrament (remember that this sacrament is SO important that the Church recognizes as valid any Baptism performed by anybody, even one who is not a Christian; as long as the person to be baptized desires it, and the one baptizing intends to do what the Church does when She baptizes, if even only implicitly).  This activation of the graces of Baptism is one of the several reasons we are preparing ourselves for the re-consecration of our parishes, homes, and hearts to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and His enthronement in those homes in which He has not yet been enthroned.

There is a lot of language / imagery in the scriptures in which the Father reveals Himself AS “Father”.  We see this in the Psalms, in the prophets, and, of course, in the Gospels and New Testament letters.  Our Lord, Himself, speaks to His disciples (that is, US) of the “Father”: not a particularly innovative bit of language or imagery in 1^st century Judea / Israel, but what our Lord MEANS when He uses this imagery is so jarring that it brings about His passion and death.

We began by contemplating the friendship Christ desires with us.  We continued by recognizing how we betray that friendship with our sins.  We now, in a similar way, contemplate the familial relationship Christ desires with us in revealing Himself as not only Lord, and King, and Friend, but now also: “Brother”.

What does it mean to be “brother” or “sister”, beyond the obvious blood ties? What does it mean in the realm of “relationship”?  This leaves a great deal of ground for our contemplation this week.