Overview:

Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time

“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.” (Mt 12:47-50)

Find today’s readings here.

Even though there were 500 people packed into the foyer of the Brooklyn central library Sunday to watch the World Cup final, for nearly the entire game I couldn’t exactly tell where the majority of the crowd was leaning. There were some red shirts in the crowd, but not an overwhelming number, with a few blue and white stripes here and there. At one point, everyone cried out when it looked like Spain was about to score only to be thwarted by Argentina’s (astounding) goalie Emiliano Martinez. But you couldn’t gauge if it was a Spanish cry of disappointment at not scoring, or Argentine relief that the shot was blocked. 

Then, at the 91st minute mark, Spain did put the ball in the back of the net and the crowd erupted. It was a Castilian crowd. (The goal, by Spanish left winger Nico Williams, was immediately disallowed due to a foul called on his teammate Mikel Merino. When Spain’s Ferran Torres scored for real in the first minute of the second half of extra time, the crowd at the library exploded.)

If I were a fan of La Roja, when the crowd first burst out in cheers for the disallowed goal, I would have immediately found my people, my brothers and sisters. Those who do the will of the nation of Spain and root for the national team are brothers and sisters and mothers. They are a chosen family, sharing not blood but a posture of the heart toward something bigger than all of us: a sport, a way of life.

In the Scripture passage today, when Jesus says that his mother and brother and sister are those who do the will of God, he isn’t coldly excluding his natural family. He is not turning his back on his genetic mother and brothers and sisters, insisting they pass some kind of spiritual test to be included in his inner circle. Rather, Jesus is, as he usually does, widening things out. Making a larger point. Extending the bonds and boundaries of kinship. Pointing, ultimately, to the reign of God. To the way things were meant to be, and in the end will be. To the fact that we are all brothers and sisters and kin. 

Which is what Spain also did this year. Not only did the country solidify its national bonds this Sunday with its victory, earlier this year it also extended Spanish kinship beyond where its people were born. On Jan. 27, Spain gave half a million migrants the opportunity to regularize their citizenship. In an act of amnesty spurred by a petition and enacted by royal decree, the country expanded the national circle to include the foreign born, so they can fully and officially become Spaniards. As reported in America, the amnesty was part of a “tradition of generosity” in the country toward migrants.

If you wanted Argentina to win, or at least to see Messi’s ridiculous skills put the ball in the net one more time, you can console yourself with this fact: A country with a large heart won the Cup. (And an intelligent heart: They understand well the economic benefits of a migrant workforce.) Spain has chosen to welcome the stranger in their midst. Para mayor gloria de Dios, Espana.

Joe Hoover, S.J., is America’s poetry editor and producer of a new film, “The Allegory.”