OH, BROTHER!

“Let us sell him to these Ishmaelites, instead of doing away with him ourselves. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh. His brothers agreed.” –Genesis 37:27

To Joseph’s brothers, brotherhood meant not killing their brother but selling him. We Christians are brothers and sisters with one another. At Mass, we are repeatedly addressed as brothers and sisters. Does brotherhood and sisterhood mean more to us than it did to Joseph’s brothers?

Brotherhood and sisterhood should mean that:

• We are one as Jesus and the Father are one (Jn 17:21).
• “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy” (1 Cor 12:26).
• We share our very lives with our brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Thes 2:8).
• We are willing to die for our brothers and sisters (1 Jn 3:16).

Christian brotherhood and sisterhood are so important to God that “the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14). Therefore, Jesus calls us to be adopted children of God. He is our Brother (see Heb 2:11). On Judgment Day, we will be judged according to what we have done or not done to the least of our brothers and sisters (Mt 25:40, 45).

Although Christian brotherhood and sisterhood are essential to Christianity, they are widely ignored. Therefore, throughout the world, the Holy Spirit is raising up small Christian communities to strengthen our brotherhood and sisterhood and thereby rebuild the Church. Join a Christian community. Be a brother or a sister in Christ.

PRAYER: Father, rebuild the relationships in the Church.
PROMISE: “The Stone Which the builders rejected has become the Keystone of the structure. It was the Lord Who did this and we find it marvelous to behold.” –Mt 21:42; cf Ps 118:22
PRAISE: Meg reconciled with her father after twenty years of estrangement. She praises God for this restored relationship.