Mother and Son - 2 Hearts: One Heartbeat!

"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.”  (Luke 8: 19 - 21).

Mother and brothers of Jesus:  People had wondered, disputed and fought over the meaning of "brothers and sisters" of Jesus. Now did Mary have any other children apart from Jesus.  Nowhere in the Scriptures is this affirmed. 2000 years of Church tradition has maintained unanimously that Jesus is pure and simply the Only Son of Mary. All the Church Fathers, all the 35 Doctors of the Church, all the 266 Popes have all affirmed the truth that the Blessed Virgin Mary enjoys the unique privilege of perpetual virginity which means that Mary was virgin before the birth of Jesus, she remained virgin during the birth of Jesus and she was virgin after the birth of her Only Son. One of her many titles is Queen of Virgins. In Heaven, there is an Order of women who lived and died virgins during their earthly life. Many of them are canonized saints. Mary is their Queen.

Today's Scripture (Luke 8: 19 - 21) reads brothers [and sisters] of Jesus. The term simply means relatives.  There was no controversy about the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary till the 5th century. Fortunately, the foremost biblical scholar of all times, Church Father and Doctor of the Church, St Jerome was still alive at the time. He despatched the problem so decisively that the issue was not heard of again till the 16th century at the time of the Reformation.  Martin Luther and most of the early Reformers believed in the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Now think of this:  About 50% of Christians believe in the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the other 50% do not. Why does this matter? Because who Mary is helps us to understand  Jesus the Son of Mary. You can not separate these two realities.

“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”  (Luke 8: 21).

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