All of us would probably say that family is our first and most important value. As human beings we need a family to survive physically through the first years of our life and we need a family to survive emotionally through the rest of our lives. So, family first is something that is biologically programmed into our emotional and physical wellbeing. Latino culture tends to put family needs and considerations as very high priorities.
Whenever we hear the phrase “first family” we tend to think of the president’s wife and children. That is usually a distant stereotyped image of one family that represents the national cultural values. That image of a perfect family, however wholesome and stereotypic, has its origins in political power and wealth, tends to be separated from the reality of most families. In the USA, we tend to have an image of the first family like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Overall, family is a primordial need and priority throughout all our lives.
For that reason, Jesus words today are so striking. At that point in the Gospel, he is preaching to large crowds and curing people. He receives the message that his mother and family are outside calling him. One would expect him to pause and immediately see his mother – family first.
But shockingly, what he does is break the Noman Rockwell stereotypic icon of family responsibilities and family affiliations. The first family for Jesus is the group of disciples who have renounced their own will, desires, needs, and family affiliations and subjugated all to the will of God the Father.
Therefore, the true first family, for us as Christians is the will of God and our local faith community. When we organize our lives around the principle of family first, we need to look to our relationships with our faith community; for us as Catholics, that is the parish. The wealth of experience and depth of faith in the communion of the saints, the local parish, is often forgotten aspect of our faith life. Rather than organize our lives around ourselves, our perceived needs, and our biological families, we are called to look to God’s will and our family of faith, the parish. That is how we truly become members of Jesus’ family.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Image: Canva CJ Dunn 19July2026 AI Generated.