I think that we sometimes make things way more complex than they really are. Being a Christian, for example. We have all sorts of books and rules and provisions and requirements about what you have to do and who you have to be in order to be a follower of Christ. Sure, it is good to give us guidelines and things to think about on our Christian walk. But sometimes all the rules and requirements can distract us from the fundamentals, from what Jesus really tells us. We see what it takes to be Jesus' "mother and brothers" in today's reading from Luke's gospel (Lk 8: 19-21). Jesus couldn't be clearer. To be His "mother and brothers," we need simply to "hear the word of God and act on it." It is all about hearing and acting. It is all about listening to what Jesus says-- both in Scripture and through the Church-- and then doing what we are told to do. Pretty basic stuff. I've been at a lot of family gatherings the last couple of weeks, and one of the things that has caused me to reflect on is the number of people who have stopped going to Mass, and the reasons for that phenomenon. The more I have thought about it, the more it has become apparent to me that it is the failure of folks in the Church to "hear and word of God and act on it" that is behind the exodus from the pews. Time and time I have heard about the hypocrisy that drives people away-- about how people in the Church don't act on the word of God, despite what they preach. I heard about priests engaging in behavior that was openly and notoriously contrary to what the Church teaches, but no one in authority would do anything about it. I heard about the misuse of funds for outward appearance, rather than for helping those in need. The list goes on. At some level it is very simple to be a Christian-- listen to the word of God and do it. And it is very simple to engage and keep people in the faith-- practice what Jesus preaches, and one of the things Jesus preaches most often, and with the most passion, is not to be a hypocrite. People will tolerate mistakes in judgment-- we all make them. And they will tolerate the fact that folks in the Church are sinners-- we all sin. But what drives them away in droves is the hypocracy-- the fact that folks say they are listening to the word of God and doing it when they are doing just the opposite. So simple to say and such a challengeto do-- listen to the word of God and act on it.