This morning after Holy Mass, Sister Mary Claire and I walked home down the gravel road with the sun warm on our shoulders. The fields all around us are filled with ripening corn, and Sister said the farmers are anxious for the harvest. You can almost feel the waiting in the air.
I asked Sister about the Gospel, because it puzzled me when Jesus said His mother and His brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it. It almost sounded like He wasn’t thinking of His own Mother. Sister smiled and said, “Kathy, Our Blessed Mother is the first of all those who heard God’s word and kept it. She said ‘yes’ with her whole heart. Jesus isn’t putting her aside — He’s making the family bigger. He is telling us that everyone who listens and obeys God’s word becomes His family too.”
That made me glad, to think that by trying to listen to God and do His will, even a farm girl like me could be counted among His brothers and sisters. Sister said the Word of God ripens in our hearts like the corn in the fields, if we let His love shine on it and tend it with prayer.
Mini gave us plenty of laughter along the way, darting back and forth across the road, then leaping at grasshoppers with her ears out like wings. She rolled in the dust until her coat was all powdered, then popped up again looking so proud of herself that we couldn’t help but laugh.
Evening Prayer
Dear Jesus, help me to always hear Your word with an open heart, and to act on it with love. Let me belong to Your family forever. Amen.
Love,
Kathy
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