June 27, 2025
Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
My sisters and brothers in the Lord,
Welcome to week twenty-six of BMW, Be My Witnesses. We are now at a stage of preparing for the next three weeks of being on mission. This week, we are reminded that we are not alone. Rather, we belong to a family and that will give us the support to move ahead.
Belong: Role of the Family — Peace to this household (Luke 10:5)
When Jesus instructed the 72 in preparation for their missionary work, he told them to go two-by-two and make their first words to every one they visited, “Peace to this household” (Luke 10:5). Perhaps, Jesus was reflecting on the greeting used by David’s followers as they approached the “harsh and bad-mannered” Nabal, “Peace be with you, my brother, and with your family, and with all who belong to you” (I Samuel 25:6). That peace was not received by Nabal and Jesus knew such could be the case in any house his paired followers might enter.
Yet, this ability to wish peace, or God’s Shalom, on another household, is better delivered if there is peace, God’s Shalom, in our own household’s first. After Jesus cured the possessed man in the territory of the Gerasenes, and after that healed man wanted to follow Jesus and be a disciple, Jesus told him, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you” (Mark 5:19). So, let us start with our own homes first.
Jesus wants us to build our houses on rock and not one sand (Mt 7:25). That rock is Christ himself. Psalm 127 (verse 1) is as explicit: “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build.” Let us first then dedicate our homes to Christ and his mission. At the end of his time of leadership, Joshua spoke to the Israelites, calling upon them to serve God and not the false idols around them. But he began first with a pledge: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). This is a first step, a dedication of our starting place.
Secondly, we know that there is never any perfect peace, not even in our homes. So, we need God’s help, his grace. David, recognizing all that God had done to build up his house and name, asked for continued blessings: “do then, bless the house of your servant, that it may be in your presence forever” (II Samuel 7:29). This is the second aspect of our task, continually to ask God’s blessing for peace in our own homes. Fortified by this internal peace, we can go forth and invoke God’s peace as well upon all we meet.
The Challenge
For our challenge this week, focus on some aspect of your own home life where you are not experiencing the peace of Christ and pray that God will do for you what he did for David so long ago. If it is only prayer that is necessary, fine. If, however, there is some task that the Lord points out to you to advance his peace in your home, ask him for the grace to do that. Until next week, may God Bless you.
I am sincerely yours in Christ,
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
P.S. Below is a video version of this week's Be My Witnesses. Please do share with family and friends. Thank you. God bless you.