Finding Home in Faithfulness

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Mollie Brant (Konwatsijayenni), Matron among the Mohawks

Today's Readings:
[ Ruth 1:6-18; Ps 80:1-7; Mt 12:46-50 ] 

In today’s readings, we are invited to reflect on belonging—where it is found, how it is chosen, and what it costs.

Ruth declares to Naomi, “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” This is not merely sentiment—it is covenant. Ruth binds herself in love, crossing boundaries of nation, culture, and security. Her fidelity echoes the kind of kinship that Jesus later names: “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

On this commemoration of Mollie Brant, a woman who lived between cultures and bore the weight of sometimes difficult loyalties, we see a similar tension. Like Ruth, she inhabited a space where identity was not simple, where belonging required courage. The Gospel reminds us that true family is not defined by bloodlines alone, but by faithfulness to God’s will—a reality that often places us at the margins of comfort and certainty.

From a Franciscan perspective, this is the path of holy poverty: the willingness to let go of fixed identities and securities in order to belong wholly to God. St. Francis himself stepped outside the expectations of his time, embracing a new family formed not by status, but by obedience, humility, and love.

The psalmist cries, “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved”. This longing for restoration is not just personal—it is communal. It is the cry of those who feel displaced, uncertain, or divided. And yet, in God’s presence, a new belonging is formed.

Today, we are asked: where is God calling us to deeper fidelity? What boundaries are we being invited to cross in love? Like Ruth, like Mollie Brant, and like Francis, we are called to trust that true home is found not in comfort, but in covenant—walking wherever God leads, and discovering there a family that cannot be broken.

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