Tuesday 24 September

Ezra 6:7-8, 12, 14-20; Psalm 122; Luke 8:19-21

Mary lived by faith

Mothers will understand how Mary and her relations felt as they stood at the edge of the crowd and claimed their right to talk to Jesus. Did she feel rebuffed when she was told that her son valued the bonds among those who did God’s will more than the natural ties he had with his mother and relations? Or did she surrender to God in her heart, without really understanding, as she had many years before on hearing the message of the angel? And did she follow her Jesus, often at a distance, until the day he hung in agony on the cross? Did she pray in union with him that final prayer of surrender: “Father into your hands I commend my spirit”? Mary the faith-filled disciple shows us how to be followers of her son.