The Letter to the Hebrews compared the sacrifice of Christ's life to the animal sacrifices made year after year. The animals had to be sacrificed repeatedly, but Christ died once for the sins of all. No longer would the sacrifice of animals be necessary because Christ came and offered his body for the sanctification of all. What did the writer mean by sanctification? Cleansed and perfected! We can never be perfect for we continue to sin. Yet in Rejoice and Be Glad, Pope Francis encourages us to answer "the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time" as we live our lives as parents, grandparents, friends, sons and daughters. Holiness is attainable because it does not mean that we need to be perfect but to live a life faithful to God.

Jesus had been away preaching and healing. A great crowd followed him, but the scribes were accusing Jesus of casting out demons in the name of Satan. His family heard of the accusations. They came to get Jesus because they had also heard that Jesus "had gone out of his mind". What was Jesus' reaction to his family? Jesus redefined the meaning of 'family'. From then on, those who did the will of God would be considered family. Jesus doesn't mean that we are to reject our own families, but we are to expand our definition of family to include all of God's children.