June 21, 2026

Gospel: Mark, chapter 3, verses 20–35
Homily of the Pontiff Samuel

The true family of Jesus:
neither the Pharisees nor his own
but those who do the Father’s Will

(Draft: Automatic Translation)

Beloved brothers and sisters, we are living through the month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Pontifical Decree, “Solemn Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus”, 19 June 2022); and we are living through these Sundays—Sundays of love and profound teaching—which we are all called to live out in our very being as “children” (John 1:12), in this Feast—a living, ongoing and vibrant Feast that will never come to an end.

This is what it means to be a ‘family’: the Family of God, the Family of Jesus, the true Family (Revelation of the Most Holy Mary to Maria G. Norcia, “The Divine Family and the Golden Staircase”, 25 December 1988). This is the theme of today’s Gospel; this is the theme of this Sunday, Holy Sunday.

Who is the true Family of Jesus? Who are His brothers? Who are His sisters? Who is His mother? It is the Master who teaches us this. It is a teaching to which we must all return, so that we may once again place true brotherhood, the true family bond, at the centre. Those who do the Father’s Will – through their lives, through their actions, and not merely through words, we might say – are “family”. This is the Master’s Family, which gathers today and will always gather to do the Will of the Holy Father (Mk 3:33–35). Here are the witnesses, here are the martyrs: those who, having died to the world and to sin (Rom 6:11), live each day to ‘seize’ this everyday life, to ‘seize’ time, so that they may always be one step ahead and live solely and exclusively to do the Will of God, the Triune God. And having come to know Him and encountered Him in one’s own life, one will never leave Him again, and one will live with one’s whole being, with all the ardour and love that burns within one’s heart, so as to serve and love Him with all one’s strength, with all one’s heart, with all one’s mind, with all one’s soul (Mark 12:30).

This, dear brothers and sisters, is to do the Father’s Will: to awaken from a slumber that has overtaken so many, from a deadly torpor to which so many have fallen victim (Eph 5:14), in order to take back control of one’s own life, to entrust it to Mary, so that Mary may present it to Jesus (Act of the Magisterium, “The Privileged Path to Salvation”, 15 August 2023) and say: “Here, take it: this is the life of that child who has been born again from above (John 3:5) through Me, Mary, who now wishes to live in You, solely and exclusively in You”. This is what it means to be a “family”, dear brothers and sisters. And the moment one understands all this, the moment one has set hand to the plough, one no longer wishes to turn back, one no longer wishes to look back (Luke 9:62), for the things of the past have passed away (Revelation 21:4). The New Jerusalem (Act of the Magisterium, “The Sanctuary of the New Jerusalem”, 5 June 2022) leads us solely and exclusively to embrace what is new, what is renewed in Christ and in Mary. “No more mourning, no more sorrow, no more lamentation”: away with all that, dear brothers and sisters! Away with lamentations, away with sorrows! We have been reborn in Christ; we have been reborn from His Side, from that pierced Heart from which Blood and Water flowed (John 19:34). We are children of that Sacrifice. We too are called to ‘sacrifice’, to ‘make sacred’ everything we do: this is what ‘sacrifice’ means. Just as Jesus sacrificed Himself, He ‘made sacred’ His Life, His Existence, out of love for those whom the Father had entrusted to Him and would entrust to Him (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “Maria, I consecrate myself to You”, 10 March 1986); and so must we do, if we wish to become “many little Jesuses”, if we wish to be His brothers and sisters, His Family, not in words but in life, in deeds. This, dear brothers and sisters, is what it means to be the Family of Christ.

Here is this profound Gospel, which brings us back to the very essence of Love. Certain images stand out in the passage we have just read: the house; the crowd; the food, which they were unable to take (Mark 3:20); ‘His own’, as they were called, who regarded Him as a ‘madman’; and the Pharisees, those who set themselves up and took their places on the teaching seats (Mt 23:2), presuming to pontificate on what is of the Spirit, even whilst standing before the eternal High Priest (Heb 7:24). And Jesus’ first condemnation is directed precisely at these people, at the Pharisees of that time and, we might well say, at the Pharisees of today: those who presume to judge what is of the Spirit, setting themselves up and condemning the Holy Spirit, saying: ‘It is not the Holy Spirit, but a demonic spirit’ (Mark 3:22, 30), turning the terms on their head.

For this reason, this blasphemy—which is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—cannot be forgiven. It is not true that Jesus forgives everything and everyone, as we have heard repeated for years: “Todos, todos, todos!”. No, hermanos queridos, no! This is not the Truth. No es Verdad.

The Truth is another (John 16:13): it is that of Jesus Christ, written in the Gospel, and which so many martyrs have preached, not so much with words as with their very lives.

Jesus says in the Gospel we have just heard: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:29). Clear, Jesus. It is not open to interpretation! Clear! As always, Jesus is clear: ‘Let your “Yes” be “Yes”, and your “No” be “No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one’ (Mt 5:37), by whom this world is permeated, steeped, and ensnared. That is why confusion now reigns supreme and terms are turned on their head. Men may do this, but God will not, for God is true in His words and in His teaching. Why? Because, otherwise, it is the little ones who suffer, who no longer understand where the Truth lies, who are led now to the right, now to the left, according to human, not divine, expediency (Mark 8:33). For this reason, the eternal life of so many is at stake; for this reason, those who turn things on their head will be condemned for ever, and there will be no forgiveness for them (Act of the Magisterium, “God’s Holy Forgiveness”, 02/08/2023).

What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? It is to deny the effects of the Holy Spirit’s action upon souls, to deny the known Truth; thus, to deny Jesus; to mistake the action of the Holy Spirit for the action of the diabolical spirit, thereby leading so many little ones astray. This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus told His Maiden in that great Revelation which we heard on the eve of this Sunday. Jesus says: “The sin against My Signs may be forgiven, but not that against the effects of the Signs in souls: to deny the reality and the origin of My wonders, of My Works, is to deny Me.

[…] Ah, the sin against the Holy Spirit, which consists in denying the Truth once known, still persists because of a stubborn will and a complete lack of any disposition towards forgiveness. I am ready to welcome the sinner who repents; but the Pharisees do not wish to repent, they despise the penitent and, therefore, do not place themselves in a position to be forgiven’. And again: ‘To those who presume to have accepted My Word, I shall demonstrate through deeds that their perversion is great and that it is dangerous to trample upon God’s graces. No supposed kinship with Me must lead one away from the duty of Charity” (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Eternal Privileged Altar for Hypostatic Union”, 30 June 1985).

“No supposed kinship”. And here is the second point that Jesus addresses: kinship, “His own”. And this too must be understood both in the light of the context, of the flesh, but also and above all in the light of what is Spirit. Who are “His own”? At that time, “His own” were His blood relatives. You know that in ancient Hebrew the term ‘brother’ can also have a broader meaning, referring to a ‘relative’ or ‘blood relative’. So, when speaking of ‘brothers’, one is not referring to flesh-and-blood brothers, but, in this case, to cousins, and Jesus had four of them: the sons of St Joseph’s brother and Mary of Cleophas. Precisely, Mary of Cleophas, sister-in-law of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Two of these blood relatives followed Him: James the Less and Judas Thaddeus. The other two did not. They betrayed Him; they considered Him a ‘madman’; they were ashamed of that relative. It was embarrassing. And this is what the Gospel tells us. ‘He is out of his mind,’ it is written in the Gospel. “So when his family heard this, they set out to take charge of him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mk 3:21).

Being related to the God-Man is awkward, and it upends the social gains that have been achieved. You have to put yourself on the line when you have a relative like that, by blood, and not everyone is prepared to do so. For this reason, some follow, others do not. However much they may tell you they love you; but love is measured in concrete, real terms. And when values differ, we no longer understand one another: because for me, the Good—God, the Supreme Good—is one thing; for others, ‘good’ may be measured by something else.

And this brings us to spiritual kinship: ‘His own’; that is, those who believe in Him, those who today call themselves ‘brothers’. ‘No presumed kinship with Me is sufficient’. It is not enough to say: ‘I believe in Jesus; I am your brother because I believe in You’. We have said it before: those who believe must demonstrate it through their lives; it is not enough to say it in words. And many stumble over this and will continue to do so, for they will say: ‘But how? I have prophesied in Your Name, I have preached in Your Name’ (Mt 7:22). Many today say this, one in particular: ‘We need peace; we must bring peace to the world; we all want peace.’ And they call themselves ‘brothers’, ‘representatives’ of Jesus on earth. And then, what do these people do? On the one hand, in the name of Jesus, they call upon the powerful of this world to make peace; on the other hand, what do they make of Jesus? They regard Him as just one of many (1 John 2:23). They sell off the Master’s Birthright, placing Jesus on the same level as other religious philosophies, selling off His Sacrifice, the Sacrifice of sacrifices. This is blasphemy that cries out against the Holy Spirit and will not be forgiven. That is why anyone who calls himself or is called ‘brother’ but does not do the Father’s Will will face a harsher judgement when he sets himself up as a teacher and, in so doing, leads many little ones astray.

“He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, he gave the power to become children of God: to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11–13). Behold, dear brothers and sisters, the true Family of the Lord.

Whoever wishes to be part of the Lord’s Family must put the Lord’s Will into practice, beginning with the virtue of obedience—that bond which unites us to the Holy Father—with docility and, above all, with a living desire to obey, to be in communion of heart, soul and spirit with Jesus.

Being in communion with Jesus does not mean saying: ‘Jesus, make me whatever I please’, but it means saying: ‘Jesus, make me whatever pleases You’. A single letter that turns the meaning on its head.

Many pray, asking Jesus to do what they desire. The Maiden of God (Magisterial Act, “The Maiden of God is the sublime Mystery of Love”, 21/01/2026) taught us, throughout Her entire Life, another prayer: “Do with me as You please: Thy will be done”. And she did so through her actions, rather than her words, from beginning to end: on that 5th of July, when she expressed her final and eternal ‘yes’ out of love for her children (Act of Magisterium, “Maria G. Norcia”, 21/01/2019), showing the world what it means to be a ‘family’, showing the world who She is—the One who loved Him as His Mother loved Him.

Here, dear young people, as always, are my thoughts for you. Once again today, you are here in great numbers, your eyes shining with light. Form a holy family so that blood and spirit may become one. As always, Jesus and Mary set the example for us, where Blood and Spirit were one: a complete Family. There was no dichotomy between Blood and Spirit, because Jesus and Mary were one, a single Heart (Act of the Magisterium, “The Reciprocity of Love in the Holy Family and the Mystery of Life”, 29/12/2024). Therefore I say to you: pray that Jesus may help you to form a holy family, where blood and spirit may be one, so that together you may be a family, so that together you may be witnesses and martyrs, and become the Eternal Privileged Altar upon which Jesus celebrates His Mass.

Not ‘unclean’ martyrs (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Eternal Privileged Altar for the Hypostatic Union”, 30 June 1985), for the world regards as such those who are no longer in communion with a house that is unclean, because it is the world, which has become a harlot (Rev 19:2); therefore it regards as ‘unclean’ that which is different from itself, and thus regards other martyrs as ‘unclean’. But for Jesus you are light, for we have been purified in the Blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14), born of Blood and Water, and thus of the Spirit.

This is rebirth in that which is Spirit, so that we may become ‘family’, so that we may cross that Threshold and already be ‘family’, and be able to repopulate this world in a new, holy way (Rev 21:5), where only Saints will bring forth other Saints, for evil will be no more (Rev 21:1) . This is the final Fulfilment, which will lead everyone to live solely and exclusively in the Spirit.

Many, over time, have got bogged down in debating whether Jesus had flesh-and-blood brothers or not, and have lost their way, and remain lost to this day. Jesus was an only son; he had no flesh-and-blood brothers. But I say to you: now we must bring everything back to an understanding of what is Spirit.

God is Spirit, and true worshippers will worship Him in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23–24). The flesh is of no avail. We must worship in Spirit and Life, for the Word of God is Spirit and Life (John 6:63)! Therefore, above all, we must understand spiritual generation, as well as the fleshly one (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “Mary, I consecrate myself to You”, 10 March 1986). This is what matters: understanding spiritual generation; and, as a result, we shall not be scandalised by anything else, for everything will be experienced in the light of what is Spirit.

Let us entrust ourselves to Mary, as always, dear brothers and sisters. Yesterday we celebrated Mary, the Consoler, Consoler of the afflicted. Let us entrust to Mary every affliction, every misunderstanding, even from those – coming from those – blood relatives, who do not understand and consider those who have followed a ‘madman’ to be ‘mad’ themselves, and who, as a result, have become ‘mad’. There is no ‘madness’; we leave madness to the world. Here, Jesus is Truth, not madness. Here, Jesus is Wisdom incarnate; He came down from Heaven to become incarnate, to dwell in the Heart of a Young Girl who loved Him as His Mother loved Him (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Return of Jesus”, 30/10/1994) to lead us all to the Truth and to eternal Life.

This is the Will of God. Whoever embraces it will be a ‘brother’ of Jesus and may call themselves a ‘brother’. But even those who say they believe in Jesus, yet refuse to believe in the descent of the Infant Jesus (Acts 1:11) and the Fulfilment of the Kingdom of Peace (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Divine Family and the Golden Staircase”, 25 December 1988), which is fulfilled in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:1), will hear it said: “I do not know you”. “Jesus, but I have always prayed to You; I have always lived for You!” “I do not know you” (Mt 25:12). And so be it.