Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time (Year I)

Hebrews 2:14-18

Out of the womb I have begotten you before the morning star.

Psalm 110:3 (Interpreted by St. Athanasius, Deposition of Arius 3)

He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”

Hebrews 2:11

All men are my brothers from the same womb, all things my companions.¹

Zhang Zai (Chang Tsai, 1020-1077)

Jesus Christ fulfilled the highest intuition of the sages that we are all family. Without departing the eternal Womb of the Father, the Son of God was born of the Virgin Mary into our world to gather all people to himself.

The God-man’s paternal and maternal origins resonate with the natural philosophy of Neo-Confucianist philosopher Zhang Zai who called Heaven “Father” and Earth “Mother.” Heaven and Earth constitute…