AUGUST 18th 2013. TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
GOSPEL: LUKE 12:49-53
From a homily by
Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio.
___________________________________________________________________
Don Fabio’s
homily follows the Gospel.
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GOSPEL:
Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples: 'I have come to bring fire to
the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must
still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over! '
Do you suppose that I am here
to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a
household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the
father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter,
daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law
against mother-in-law.
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus
Christ.
Kieran’s
summary . . . Sometimes people think that a state of peace is a sign of the presence
of the Holy Spirit, a sign that they are following the will of God. But this is
not always the case! If I am living in error then I have a tendecy to try to
tranquilize my conscience and tell myself that everything is all right. A state
of restlessness of heart is not necessarily a negative state. Often it is
inspired by the Holy Spirit and impels us to sort out the errors of our ways.
In this Gospel, Jesus tells us that he wants to bring a purifying fire to our
lives! The fire is lit when he immerses himself in the darkness of the Cross
and becomes the light of the world. In the light of this cataclysmic event, we
are asked to wield Christ’s sword of division within our own lives. Christ is
the parameter by which everything in our lives must be put to the test. His
sword cuts away the ambiguities and errors in which we love to wallow. Once the
sword of division is wielded in our lives, then we cease to be armchair
Christians who are pleasant and inoffensive to everyone. Any radical choice we
make will be met by a chorus of criticism from people who demand that we become
more mediocre. The peace that Christ brings is not the comfortable peace that
the world wishes to have. The Christian must constantly place herself in a
state of confrontation with sin and darkness. Our daily lives must be a continual
business of making small divisions between us and the ambiguities that dog our
lives.
Jesus wants to bring
fire to our lives! A fire that will purify us from the ambiguities that fill
our existence.
What a courageous
Gospel! What a disconcerting passage of Scripure! How important it is to
welcome the radical sentiments expressed by Jesus and stand firmly beside him!
The words expressed in this passage might seem paradoxical at first sight, but
it is absolutely necessary that they be applied to our lives. Our lives are
chaotic, full of lukewarmness, ambiguity and confusion. Often we don’t know
what is right or wrong, what is good for us and what is damaging. Often we
entrust ourselves to things that should never be allowed to touch our lives. At
other times we let go of things that are right and good. We are desperately in
need of a parameter by which things can be measured. And here comes the
parameter! Jesus comes to bring fire on the earth. Fire transforms things.
Often it is destructive. The Greek work for “purify” has the same root as
“fire.” Jesus wants this fire to be
kindled within us and is in distress until it starts to blaze. He has an ardent
desire to undergo a baptism of a certan sort (“baptize” means “to fully
immerse” in Greek) and he is in a state of anguish until the process is
completed. We know exactly what he is talking about. The fire that will be lit is
the Cross that will become the light of the world. Jesus will be immersed in
the darkness of the non-love and violence of this world. He will feel all the
anguish of Gethsemene and will nevertheless shine. And all of this to release
us from the ambiguity that we tend to wallow in.
Jesus brings a sword
of division that will strike at the errors and ambiguities in our hearts
There is a
terrible phrase in this Gospel, “I have not come to bring peace but division”.
“Division” in the Greek is expressed by the word “sword”. Why does Our Lord
want to bring division instead of peace? In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “My
peace I leave you, a peace that the world doesn’t give.” The peace that Christ
brings is totally unlike the peace of the world. When we enter into a new way
of life, this implies being separated from what went before. To begin truly
living as children of God brings with it a certain tension and restlessness.
Sometimes people are over-apt to generalise, stating that if one is in a state
of peace then they are doing God’s will. But this doesn’t follow at all! The
spiritual exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola emphasize that we have a tendency
to try to tranquilize ourselves whenever we are in error. Restlessness and
inquietude are precisely the works of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person
who is on the wrong path. Very often it is a feeling of dissatisfaction with
oneself that leads people to Christ. How often we meet people who returned to
the Church and the sacraments because of an unease they had with the way of
life they were leading. Restlessness should not be automatically dismissed as
being not of God. It is true that there are
states of inner tension that are negative, unhappy and infertile. But there are
also states of restlessness that are extremely beneficial, leading to
transformations that are good and necessary. And Jesus tells us that he has
come to bring us to just such a state of restlessness.
The sword that Jesus
brings to our lives will cause us to take a path that is not followed by the
multitude
Jesus says that
the division that he brings will lead to divisions within our families. What is
he referring to here? Historically, during the early centuries of persecution
and martyrdom, it often happened that a person has to place himself in
opposition to his family in order to accept Christianity. In our day we have
returned to a situation where being a disciple of Jesus involves a break with
society and the world. Abraham had to leave his father’s house and his homeland
in order to follow the path that the Lord had planned for him. Many saints have
also had to go against the wishes of their families. This is not to say that we
inevitably have to get into conflict with our families in order to serve
Christ. Very often what we do have to oppose is a carnality, a way of being
human, that does not lead anywhere good. The division which Jesus brings into
our lives is the refusal to follow in the way of the multitude. As the Lord
says, the way of salvation is narrow, and the way that leads to perdition is
wide and taken by many.
Following Jesus
implies being in conflict with the world
If I am called
to follow Christ, then this sets me against the tide, how can it be otherwise?
If someone else has made something else the centre of their lives, something
that is radically different to the way of Jesus, then it follows that I am not
going to be in agreement with everything that this person says or does. A
Christian will never be applauded by the whole world! We ought to be suspicious
of any Christian who is praised by everyone. We can rightfully ask, “Is the
division spoken of by Christ really present in the apostolate of that person?”
It is not a question of wanting to be against other people. It is a question of
identity! For example, we cannot be in agreement with people who are in favour
of the devaluation of human life from the time it is in the womb of the mother.
Very often, when we make a choice that is radical, even in a minimal way, then
we are surrounded by people who criticize us and demand that we become more
mediocre.
We need to intruduce
a sword of division into our lives on a daily basis, a sword that cuts away the
ambiguiites and errors, a sword that may not appeal to others around us, but
that helps us to be faithful to our Christian identity.
We are asked to
experience a division that has already been pre-announced in Luke’s Gospel.
During the Presentation in the Temple
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