LIVE IT TODAY: Tuesday, September 23, 2025 | Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), Priest
You are My family when you hear My Word and live it.
LIVE IT TODAY: Tuesday, September 23, 2025 | Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), Priest
A GREAT WAY TO BEGIN TODAY!
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GOD'S DECLARATION TO YOU TODAY
You are My family when you hear My Word and live it.
INVOCATION
Come, Holy Spirit! Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, open my heart to hear and receive all that You desire for me. Draw me ever more deeply into the Love and Life of the Blessed Trinity!
GOSPEL | Luke 8:19-21
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."
EVERY DAY QUESTION
What struck you? Challenged you? Inspired you? What questions did it raise?
GOING DEEPER
Hearing and Doing: The Family of God
Jesus is not rejecting His Mother here—He is elevating her. Mary is the perfect example of one who “hears the word of God and acts on it.” At the Annunciation, her “yes” became the doorway for the Word Himself to enter the world. In highlighting this truth, Jesus redefines family: it is not built only by blood, but by obedience to the Father’s voice.
In the first-century Jewish context, family identity was everything. To step outside the bonds of kinship was unthinkable. Yet Jesus proclaims that the deepest belonging comes not from lineage, but from listening hearts. His disciples—men, women, sinners, the broken—are drawn into a new household, bound together by faith and obedience.
For us, this means the Church is not just an institution, but a family. And within that, our homes are called to be domestic churches. Parents, the way we respond to God’s Word shapes the spiritual DNA of our families. Do our children see us actually living what we hear on Sunday—praying daily, forgiving quickly, serving generously? Or do they see faith as background noise, crowded out by the world?
Jesus’ words challenge us: discipleship is not hearing alone. It requires action. Children need to see us embodying faith in simple, concrete choices: turning off a screen to pray, blessing a meal together, speaking kindly when angry, forgiving even when it costs us. These daily acts teach them that they belong to the family of God.
And here is the powerful invitation: in Christ, no family is too broken, no history too messy, to be transformed. When parents pray over their children by name, asking God to make them hearers and doers of His Word, they seal their household into the family of Jesus.
“‘Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.’” This exhortation from James echoes Jesus’ teaching. “The Word of God is at the same time a demand and a promise, a call to communion with God and with one another” (CCC 2702).
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS
Belonging: How does Jesus’ redefinition of family challenge my understanding of belonging and identity?
Faith in Action: What is one practical way I can move from hearing God’s Word to acting on it today?
Domestic Church: How can I make my home more visibly a family that lives by hearing and doing God’s Word?
FAMILY LIVE IT
Make some time today to gather together and, going around, each person share one way they want to “live God’s Word” in action this week.
Then pray over each person by name:
“Lord Jesus, make [Name] a true member of Your family. Open their ears to hear Your Word, give them courage to act on it, and let our home shine as a household of faith and love.”
DAILY PARENT & GRANDPARENT BLESSING
LORD JESUS CHRIST, let Your holy anointing be upon each of our children, grandchildren, and godchildren this day and week, including all to whom they are called in vocation, and all future generations! In Your Sacred Name we claim them for You! We renounce all whispers, lies, and influences of the Enemy! We pray right now that each know Your loving Presence, be forged in virtue, and be flooded with an abundance of Your Holy Spirit to live fully their identity and mission in You now and through all eternity, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother! Amen.
PARENT BLESSING PROJECT: bit.ly/ParentBlessing
GOING VERTICAL
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Just as the vertical beam upholds the horizontal beam of the Cross, so too does undistracted, dedicated daily turning to God as our lifeblood uphold and strengthen every part of life. Start with just three minutes. Wait patiently for the breakthrough beyond the noise. Let Him speak.
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