FR. WILLY SAMSON, SJ*
MATTHEW 12: 46-50
While he was still 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.”
Who is my brother? Who is my sister? If we are completely honest, we usually define our family as the people who make us feel safe, the ones who share our bloodlines, or the friends who conveniently fit into our comfortable social circles.
But today, Jesus shatters that narrow definition with an
uncomfortable, and radical truth: your brother and your sister is anyone who leaves their comfort zone to do the will of God. True kinship in the Kingdom of Heaven is not a matter of matching last names, shared backgrounds, or easy relationships; it is an active, costly choice. True membership in Jesus’ family is forged when we decide that obeying God’s call to love others is more important than protecting our own comfort zones.
In our gospel today, Jesus radically challenges our understanding of family. When told that His biological mother and brothers are waiting outside to speak with Him, He challenges the crowd by asking that jarring, deeply counter-cultural question: “Who is my brother, sister, or mother?” Then, pointing directly to His disciples, He declares that whoever does the will of His Heavenly Father is His true family.
This is not a rejection of our biological families, but a fresh and challenging redefinition of family itself. It is a declaration that our deepest spiritual home is not determined by bloodlines, but by active, courageous obedience to God’s call to love.
This is my daily experience every single day in the Philippine General Hospital. At present, there are only two Jesuits assigned to PGH, which means our 24-hour duty comes every other day. In this very physically and emotionally draining ministry, we are expected to respond to the urgent spiritual needs of the patients by providing them spiritual assistance. The evening calls are the most challenging ones—to receive a call in the middle of the night, shake off sleep, and run to the emergency room, or ICU, or the packed charity wards to pray for a dying patient.
Many people outside these walls may not understand why we need to do this, or why we endure such exhaustion. But when you are standing there, surrounded by the patient’s family who are questioning God’s will and grieving deeply for their dying loved one, clarity suddenly comes. You understand perfectly why accompanying them and praying for them is a divine act of mercy and love. In that ultimate threshold between life and death, they do not need theological explanations; they need a family. They need someone to be with them in their darkest moment, where nothing else is important but a loving presence—a family, someone who can be there, just be with them, and that is enough.
Each time I leave my comfort zone and walk inside the room or bed of a sick person, that sacred miracle transpires. As I choose to look at the stranger and sick patients with great love and mercy, I find myself completely connected to them. In those unfiltered, midnight hours, the walls of detachment completely crumble; I can feel their pain, and they become my family. The exhausted patient gripping a chart on a stretcher is no longer an outsider to pity—they become my own flesh and blood, bound to me by the grace of God.
The world tells us to prioritize our own comfort and personal needs, but Jesus challenges us to look at humanity’s deepest wounds. They are our brothers and sisters, our family, God’s family. Let’s leave our comfort zones and do God’s will by loving others. Remember that our truest, most expansive family is waiting for us wherever we choose to intentionally love and simply be there for someone.
Take a moment to look into our own hearts and honestly ask ourselves: Who is waiting just outside our comfort zone, begging for our loving presence in their darkest hour, whom Jesus is calling us to claim as our family today?
*HOMILY OF FR. SAMSON, RADYO KATIPUNAN
As i honestky look into my own heart. i realize that those who beg for my reply, for my smile, for an eye contact is anyine i come across with during the coarse of the day. my helper, my driver, the garbage man, the street childrren, the beggars by the roadside, the tindera in tbe market…its anyone and everyone i meet or just talk to my cell phone.