Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
September 26, 2023
The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him
but were unable to join him because of the crowd.
He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside
and they wish to see you.”
He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers
are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
Reflection
My wife and I welcomed our first child, Timothy, just a few months ago. There’s no doubt that it has been both the most blessed and the most crowded time of our lives. Learning to navigate the wide variety of Timmy’s needs while trying to maintain balance within our work, social, and family situations—and that on little sleep—has us at times feeling exhausted, frazzled, and even afraid.
I can relate to Jesus’ mother and brothers in today’s gospel in that I have been “unable to join [Jesus] because of the crowd,” despite my yearning to do so. The attention and care that my son requires, though beautiful in its way, can leave my mind and heart feeling overcrowded and without respite, as if I am “standing outside [wishing] to see [Jesus].”
As such, these early months of parenting have required the rapid adjustment of our family’s expectations for what abiding in Christ’s family can look like. We have had to take up a new mentality, undergoing a conversion to glean his invitation, stretch out our hands to Christ through the crowd, and find rest in his loving presence.
Now, we make our love for God and each other known by volunteering to change a diaper at 3 a.m. We contemplate the Word Incarnate by gazing upon the face of our sleeping child. We build up the church by bringing Timothy to Mass each week despite the additional effort required.
Our earnest attempts to hear and seek out Jesus in this new way evoke the irony of his words in today’s gospel. His response seems to be a reproach of those who announce his mother and brothers’ arrival, or harsher still, Jesus’ implicit distancing himself from them. But as it turns out, in his relatives’ yearning to see Jesus, it is precisely they who are “hear[ing] the Word of God and act[ing] on it,” making them mother and brother to him in sincerity, even by this new, God-centered standard. Christ, the Word of God, has beckoned, and they have searched for him.
Prayer
God, Father of all people, you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may we recognize the unity of all the baptized. Do not allow us to be distracted by the superficial distinctions drawn by the world. May we instead hear you call us all your mother and brothers and sisters. We are one in your Body. Help us to live as one. Amen.
Saint of the Day

Cosmas and Damian are twin brothers known as the “moneyless ones” because they practiced medicine as a service to humanity, and did not ask for compensation.
They were born in third-century Arabia and were trained in science and medicine in Syria. As Christians, they believed that healing the body was a work of charity. Their example of goodness and their service to the sick brought many people to Christ.
They were known as good and faithful men, and it was impossible for them to hide when Christians faced persecution. They were arrested and beheaded for their faith around the year 283. Miracles of healing were attributed to them after their death, sometimes with the brothers appearing to people suffering from illness and curing them.
Along with St. Luke, these brothers are patrons of doctors and surgeons. They are also patrons of pharmacists, those who work in the chemical industry, people suffering from blindness, and against disease.
St. Damian is depicted in these stained glass windows from the Basilica, where he holds a bottle of medicine. Relics of both brothers rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
Sts. Cosmas and Damian, you were the twin brothers who brought people to Christ by caring for their health—pray for us!