*******
Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
Dear Friends, each week we gather in union with Jesus, the
Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of the Father, the Word made flesh and listen
to his words, share his table, and join our lives with his great act of
thanksgiving to the Father. But how often do we ask ourselves have we an
adequate image in our minds of who it is we are following as Christians? Today
the readings pull us up short and ask us to deepen our understanding of Jesus.
We often think of Jesus as ‘the man of peace’; but today we hear that he is a
prophet who came to bring division rather than peace. We sometimes reduce our
understanding of Jesus to being some kind of moral teacher with a few ‘general
simple truths’, but today we hear that Jesus, the Son of God, is ‘the pioneer
and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of
God.’ Now, assembled in his presence, let us ask him to give us a deeper
understanding of himself and his good news.
***************
Jesus spends much of the twelfth chapter of Luke reassuring
and encouraging his followers in the face of possible catastrophic
circumstance. "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the
body, and after that can do nothing more" (v. 4). "Therefore, I tell
you, do not worry about your life" (v. 22). "Do not be afraid, little
flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (v.
32). The same chapter ends on a far less positive note. Rather than encouraging
reassurance, Jesus says that his ministry will be very divisive. After spending
45 verses trying to quiet the anxiety of his followers, Jesus tells them that
he came to bring fire to the earth. He insists that he will not bring peace.
Instead, his ministry will divide families and pit individual members of
households against one another. The ministry of our Lord is to rain fire from
heaven!
I suspect his first century audience understood that imagery
more readily than we do. We have only a passing acquaintance with the power of
fire. We see flames in the fireplace. We worry about children holding candles
on Christmas Eve. We read of an occasional forest fire and hear the siren of a
racing fire truck. Our fire departments are so competent that an accidental
fire death makes the national news.
Gospel Notes
The idea that the kingdom of God is both a gift and a
challenge is very present in the extract from the gospel that is put before us
today. The encouraging opening words inspire confidence in the hearers as Jesus
reminds his ‘little flock’ that there is no need for fear because the kingdom
has been given. So if the disciples are not to fear, what should they do? Jesus
answers this question in a most challenging way by telling them to think
differently about the world and their place in it. They should not be concerned
about wealth or the exercise of power; rather they should busy themselves doing
what the Lord asks of them as any good servant would do. Jesus puts it to his
disciples very sternly — much has been given you, so much will be expected from
you. This is not to inspire fear but to inspire reflection on how gifted we
truly are.
*************
Michel de Verteuil
General Textual comments
The gospel passage for this Sunday is in three sections
– verse 49;
– verse 50;– and verses 51 to 53.
As I have often recommended, you should meditate on one
section at a time. But you will find that in this passage the three sections
complement one another; if taken together, they correct any false
interpretations which could arise if they were read separately. Think of them,
therefore, as parts of a beautifully constructed building in which each part is
appreciated in relation to the whole.
The metaphor of fire
in verse 49 is difficult to tie down, because it is a common one and can be
interpreted in many different ways. In fact, it is used with a variety of
interpretations in the Bible itself: the tongues of fire representing the
coming of the Spirit; the burning fire of love, and so on. The interpretation
probably intended by Jesus in this passage is the one we find in chapter 3 of
St Luke’s gospel, where John the Baptist said that the Messiah would come and
baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and went on to explain that he
would gather God’s pure wheat into the barn and dispatch the chaff to be burnt
in a fire that would never go out. In our passage, then, Jesus is at a moment
in his life – one that we can identify with -
when he is deeply moved by all the chaff in the world, the phoniness,
the arrogance, the oppression, and he longs to see it going up in a great
bonfire, while true goodness is gathered safely into God’s barn.
Secondly, the sayings
of Jesus are usually metaphors, speaking to our imagination. You say the words
with Jesus, then, getting in touch with the particular form of chaff that makes
you indignant – hypocrisy, or racism, or manipulation – and getting in touch
with the particular part of “the earth” where you see it – your family, your
church community, your country or some other country, your own self. Experience
with Jesus the blessedness of hungering and thirsting for God’s justice to be
realized in the world.
Thank God for those people you have known who saw it as
their mission in life (“I have come to…”) to expose evil in one of its hidden
forms and refuse to accept it passively as we are inclined to do. Put their
names into the verse so that you can experience that the Spirit of Jesus is
still in the world.
There is a danger that we will read verse 49
self-righteously or fanatically, and it has often been read like this,
Christians covering up a natural hardness or intolerance with the pretence that
it was the will of God.
Verse 50 comes, therefore, as a corrective. Jesus is anxious
to cast fire, but he took no pleasure in this; he expressed his feelings with
the metaphor of a baptism with which he had to be baptised, not referring to
the sacrament, but using the word in its original sense of drowning. He felt he
was being thrown into a dark abyss and he was afraid. Identify with him at this
moment. All his life has been leading here, he knew it was the only way to go,
that he would be bringing new life for the world, and yet, he was afraid. This
was the moment the synoptic gospels recorded as the agony in the garden and St
John in Chapter 12 verse 27:
What shall I say:
Father, save me from
this hour?No, it was this reason that I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”
The Epistle to the Hebrews also describes this moment:
“He offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent
tears to the one who had power to save him out of death.” The prophet Hababuk
had the same feeling as he waited for a moment of grace:
“My whole body trembles,
my lips quiver at the sound;decay creeps into my bones,
my steps falter beneath me.”
Be with people who
are living that moment, knowing that they are doing the right thing and yet
insecure and afraid of the hurts they will cause others, “carrying with them in
their bodies the death of Jesus,” as St Paul described it.
Finally, enter into
the movement of verses 51-53, with its “do you suppose?” and “no”. Remember a
time when you took for granted that the teaching of Jesus was going to make
life easier for you, and someone or some event brought you up short, hitting
you with the realization, “Hey! It isn’t like that at all.” That was Jesus
entering your life.
Respond to the concreteness of the teaching. It is a family
of five: mother, father, a married son with his wife and a daughter, and they
are divided three against two and two against three. Let the repetitiveness
touch you so that you experience the continued pain and the frustration of the
division. Then bring Jesus into the story, looking on at that painful situation
and saying that it is what has to be. See him as the great leader, not hiding
the facts, nor abdicating his responsibility, and thank God for people you have
known who were like that.
******************************************
Gospel Notes
Although this statement by Luke is more fulsome, this
material is also found in Mt 10:34-36, and has been a source of anguish to
preachers for centuries. If one accepts this as a basic verse within a
Christology, then the result is a messiah who comes to lead just a few people
who accept his message in a form that revels in any clash with the times and
the cultures in which people live. On the other hand, if one relegates these
verses it could appear that one is praising peace at the price of compromising
the word of God. Moreover, it was only with the advances in hermeneutics in the
twentieth century that this sort of dilemma was successfully transcended.
But very briefly, we can view these collections of sayings
(in Matthew and Luke) in this way. First, the starting point is the actual
opposition to Jesus during his ministry, which has continued into the time of
the church in opposition to those who embrace its teachings about Jesus. The
fact is the opposition, and with this the fact that friendships are being
broken and so are bonds of loyalty within families. Second, this is
acknowledged in words by Jesus and the format of these words is a form of
exaggeration that makes the point that the opposition is inevitable. He not
only accepts it has happened, but knew ‘all along’ that it would happen; indeed,
he wishes it to happen as it would make sure that people were coming to a
decision about discipleship.
The problem with this text is that the statements taken as
‘words from the bible’ or ‘the plain words of Jesus’ can, within a popular
biblical hermeneutic, be taken as a justification for assessing religious ideas
as being those which are most likely to provoke opposition in the larger
society. This effectively confuses the necessary counter-cultural stance that
Christians need to take on specific points with an attitude of being awkward
‘for Jesus’, on the assumption that the larger society is inherently sinful and
corrupt.
*****************
Homily notes
1. A homily at a Sunday Eucharist is not a suitable occasion
to tackle the difficulties of today’s gospel; the backgrounds of the average
congregation are too diverse to assume any of the levels of understanding to
deal with this complex gospel theme; and even if the congregation has a great
many people who have a good familiarity with the gospels and their exegesis,
there is not the time in a homily to grapple with these five verses. However,
one can use the gospel reading as a peg to hang an exploration of the question
‘Who is Jesus?’ that is accessible to an average assembly. In this case one reads
the gospel as a ‘wake-up call’: so you think you know about Jesus and his
message? Well, just look at this text with its prediction of family strife
which is so much at variance with much Christian preaching on the family. So
you think you know his message of peace, then look at what this text says. So
you think that the Christian gospel can be boiled down to some general set of
‘great moral truths’ — which are more or less the same in every religion but it
just so happens that we hear them in the ‘Jesus version,’ then now look at this
text and ask if Jesus fits neatly into your box.
2. If the congregation is a small one, then one can ask them
to list all the different names and titles we give to Jesus. The resulting list
then can form the basis for the homily. However, if the gathering is large,
uncomfortable with the idea of participating in the homily, or is just
generally reticent, then you can provide a list of your own. The idea is to
note the complexity of the list, and then see how the various names/titles/
designations relate one to another.
Jesus-titles3. Here is a list I have drawn up. I have come
up with 50 names / titles in no particular order: Jesus Christ; the Christ;
Christ; Messiah; Anointed One; Son of David; Son of Man; Son of God; Light;
Light from light; Fisher of men; Shepherd; Man; King of the Jews; Sacred Heart;
Prince of Peace; Son of Mary; Logos; Word; Word made flesh; Bread of life; The
Crucified; The Man of Sorrows; Second Person of the Trinity; Guide; Carpenter’s
son; Alpha and Omega; Saviour; Conqueror of sin; Redeemer; King; the Infant of
Prague; King of Kings; God; Priest; Prophet; Lord; Liberator; Son of the
Father; High Priest; Master; Rabbi; Teacher; Healer; Lamb of God; Victor over
death; Sovereign; Brother; Friend; ‘the pioneer and perfecter of our faith’. We
could keep going as any number of other images and titles have been given to
Jesus within the life of the People of God; but probably in this list you will
find all the common ones.
4. When we take any such lists we notice that (1) they can
be seen to belong to various frames of reference; and (2) that all these names
have to be co-coordinated to one another.
5. Just to keep it neat, I break these into seven boxes:
First, we have names that are used by Jesus or of Jesus in
the four gospels: the Christ (= Messiah; Anointed One); Son of David; Son of
Man; Man; King of the Jews; Son of Mary; Bread of life; Carpenter’s son; King;
Prophet; Lord; Master; Rabbi; Teacher Lamb of God.
Second, we have names
that have been used since the first generations of Christians: Son of God;
Light; Shepherd; Prince of Peace; Son of Mary; Logos; Word; Word made flesh;
Bread of life; The Crucified; The Man of Sorrows; Alpha and Omega; Saviour;
Conqueror of sin; Redeemer; King; God; Priest; Prophet; Lord; Son of the
Father; High Priest; Master; Rabbi; Teacher; Healer; Lamb of God; ‘the pioneer
and perfecter of our faith.’
Third, we have names that are derived from our reflection on
the history of salvation: Messiah Anointed One; Son of David; Son of Man;
Prince of Peace; The Man of Sorrows; King; King of Kings; Priest; Prophet;
Lord; High Priest.
Fourth, we have names
that have to be linked with one another if they are not to be found wanting:
‘Son of God’ with ‘Son of Mary’; ‘Man’ with ‘God.’
Fifth, we have names that are used in the church’s formal
expression of faith: Light from light; Second Person of the Trinity; Redeemer.
Sixth, we have names that come from popular devotions:
Sacred Heart; Infant
of Prague.
Seventh, we have informal names, but which capture essential
aspects of our faith: Shepherd; Guide; Carpenter’s son; Liberator; Teacher;
Healer; Brother; Friend.
6. The ways we could group the names is endless; just as we
could keep adding to the list. The need for all these names is that the person
at the centre of our faith exceeds all our understanding. A mystery is not a
puzzle, but a reality so beyond our understanding that we have to keep trying
to grasp it, now this way, now that. But these various glimpses must always be
used in ‘both-and’ mode, rather than in the ‘either- or’ mode, of
understanding. The ‘either-or’ mode is suitable for ordinary everyday objects
of understanding; but if ‘to understand’/’to appreciate’ another person we
might meet every day in the flesh we need to use the ‘both-and’ mode, how much
more is this true of our seeking the one who came ‘to bring fire upon the
earth.’
7. No group’s list, nor individual’s list, will be the same
as any other, but what is included and what is missed out may provide a glimpse
into that group’s or individual’s level of religious awareness and
spirituality.
********************************************
Prayer Reflection
Lord, we thank you
that you know there
is a fire you want to bring to the earthand you wish it were blazing already.
We know that you did not come to bring peace on earth
but rather division.
We thank you for the times
when you brought some
separation between us
and people we knew
were very close to us.
1. From
Connections:
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it
were already ablaze . . . Do you think that I have come to establish peace on
earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division.”
Luke 12: 49-56
THE WORD:
When Luke wrote these few lines of his Gospel, Christians
were living through difficult times and circumstances. In many places they were treated with
ridicule, disdain and intolerance.
Jesus’ words are addressed to them and to all Christians who have paid
dearly for living their faith in their time and place.
Fire is a Scriptural symbol of judgment. The Lord will judge the hearts of all men and
women in the light of the Gospel's “blaze.”
The word used in the original text that reads here as
baptism actually means a “plunging,” a total submersion. Jesus continues on to Jerusalem where he will
be “plunged” into the Passover of the new covenant into which, through baptism,
we will all be “plunged,” as well.
The Gospel is not a soft, easy message to embrace. Jesus
does not sugarcoat his message: Families
and households will be divided over the hard demands of the Gospel of
reconciliation, justice and servanthood.
HOMILY POINTS:
The compassion, the selflessness, the humility, the justice
that Jesus demands of those who would be his disciples are a “fire” and
“baptism” through which we transform our world in the life and love of
God. The challenge of discipleship,
Jesus teaches, is not to let God’s word of justice and mercy divide us but to
realize the word’s ability to bring all humanity together as God’s holy people.
To live the Gospel faithfully is to become a contradiction
to those around us, to seek to attain a higher ethical and moral standard in
confronting life's challenges. The
Gospel calls us to risk power, prestige and even acceptance to stand up for the
equality, justice, compassion and reconciliation that every individual
possesses by virtue of being a son and daughter of God.
The Gospel of Jesus is not easy, it is not comfortable; it
is challenging and demanding and, in its call for personal conversion, it can
be divisive and confrontational.
Discipleship is not without cost; balancing the Gospel of unconditional,
reconciling love and its ethical and moral imperatives with the reality of our
lives is very difficult. Despite the
divisive consequences, Christ calls us to the hard work of seeking the mercy
and justice of God and living his Gospel of reconciliation and peace in our own
time and place, regardless of the cost.
In the divisions we suffer, in the contradictions we
encounter, in the disconnect between the conventional wisdom and the wisdom of
God, the love of God is the one constant that brings us back to one another,
that heals the rifts, that bridges that divides between us.
Story: The promise
In Thornton Wilder’s play, The Skin of Our Teeth, Maggie
Antrobus confronts her husband, who is about to leave her for his mistress:
“I didn't marry you because you were perfect, George . . . I
married you because you gave me a promise.
That promise made up for your faults.
And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married, and it was
that promise that made the marriage . . . And when our children were growing
up, it wasn't a house that protected them and it wasn't our love that protected
them -- it was that promise.”
Jesus portends a rather depressing and hopeless image of
dysfunction and discord -- we all realize that life is filled with such
pain. But the ultimate hope of the
Gospel is the never-wavering love of God, the promise of the Father's love for
his faithful people. It is hope that we
make real for one another in our “promises” of love, support and forgiveness to
others, in the “promise” of God's limitless love and unconditional forgiveness
for his holy people. Fired by God’s Word
within us, faithful to the baptism we have embraced, may we always live our
lives centered in the constant hope of God's mercy, reconciliation and peace.
Background:
The Gospel today
continues the emphasis on urgency in the message of Jesus. He is not praising
family quarrels. Nor is he advocating them. But he is saying that, however
essential family ties may be, we cannot permit them to interfere, in the really
and truly important things in life.
There are no magic formulae for balancing the demands of
family and the demands of faith. Usually we must try to respond to both. No one
can use God as an excuse for abjuring responsibility to spouse and children and
parents.
...yet there are times when we are backed into a corner and
must choose.
Story:
Once upon a time at the end of a summer vacation, a young
man called his mother and father and brothers and sisters together after a day
on the beach. There was something important he wanted to tell them. He was
going into his third year at college (pick whatever one you want). His grades
were wonderful, he was charming, and popular, and successful. Everyone expected he would do important things in
life. His father was a medical doctor and from the day this eldest son was born
he assumed that the boy would follow him into his profession. There had never
been any discussion of the matter. No discussion was necessary. Occupational
inheritance was taken for granted.
So what was the important subject he wanted to talk about?
Well, you guess it. He had the crazy idea he wanted to be a priest. In fact, he
was going to the seminary in September. There was a moment of dead silence.
Then the father said that no son of his was going to become a priest. He had no
respect for priests. They were parasites. If his son wanted to be a priest,
then he would no longer be his son. Then the father stormed out of the room and
left everyone in silence. You have ruined our family, his mother told him. Are
you gay, said one of his brothers. You never did like girls, his sister added.
***********
3. From
ACP
Rugged Individuals
“Oh all you who walk by, consider and see if there is any
sorrow like unto my sorrow.” These words are often applied to Jesus, but they
were not said BY Jesus. They are from the Lamentations of Jeremiah (1:12), a
saintly figure from the Old Testament whose life bears close resemblance to
that of Jesus. He lived in the 6th century B.C., an age of great upheaval in
the Middle East, which saw the collapse of the Assyrian empire, and the
emergence of a greater one in Babylon. Having been in bondage to Assyria for
some time, the Jewish leaders allowed their faith in God, and worship of him,
to become tainted by pagan practice.
The task God gave to Jeremiah was to condemn idolatry. Pagan
idols were even set up in the Temple itself – and to warn against forming an
alliance against Babylon, something which ultimately led to the end of the
Jewish monarchy. The ruling officials blocked all his efforts, and even wanted
to kill him, but in such a way as to make it appear that he died of the famine
then afflicting the country. The king, despite having little real power,
managed to save him. Being a young man of gentle character, Jeremiah’s whole
being shuddered before God’s call to him, which was “to tear up and to knock
down, to destroy and to overthrow” (1:10). As we see from his own descriptions
it was to lead him to the verge of despair. “Each time I speak, I have to cry
out and shout, “Violence and destruction.” The word of the Lord has brought on
me insult and derision all day long” (20:8). “I hear many muttering, “Terror is
everywhere. Denounce him. Let us denounce him” (20:10).
Faced with such threats, the agony of Jeremiah grew intense.
“Woe is me my mother, that you gave birth to me, to be a man of strife and
discord for all the land” (15:10). “Why is my suffering endless, my wound
incurable, refusing to be healed?” (15:18). “Cursed be the day when I was born”
(20:18). But self-concern was not allowed dominate his thoughts. “Oh that my
head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep
night and day for all the dead of my people” (8:23). Jeremiah was going through
what St John of the Cross called “the dark night of the soul,” when the soul
specially chosen by God seems to be abandoned by him. By such suffering the
heart of Jeremiah was purified, leaving it open to the wishes of God.
Instead of tying it to externals like the Law, circumcision,
sacrifice, the Temple itself, Jeremiah began to see that religion should really
be inward, a more personal relationship with God. Deep within his people’s
psyche God would plant his Law, writing it on their hearts (Jer 31:33). A
thousand years later, St Augustine was of similar mind. “Seek God within” was
his motto. “Enter into yourselves,” he advised, “for truth dwells in the
interior person.” The practice of interior, personal religion by Jeremiah is
what makes him dear to Christians. He foresaw a new covenant between God and
the house of Israel, the first time such an idea is found in Judaism.
Incidentally the words of consecration over the chalice in every Mass refer to
“the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.” Both Jesus and Jeremiah had
obvious love for the ordinary people, and a burning desire for their welfare,
and both were rejected by the powers-that-be of their time.
What Caiphas the high priest said of Jesus, “It is better
for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed”
(Jn 11:50) echoes what the leading men in Jerusalem said of the prophet
Jeremiah, “This fellow does not have the welfare of the people at heart, but
its ruin”. When they plotted to kill Jeremiah, he was only saved by an
Egyptian, who helped draw him out of the muddy well into which he had been
thrown. The only person to help Jesus on his way to Calvary, Simon of Cyrene,
was also a foreigner, a Libyan. In God’s wise providence, help can come from
the most unexpected quarters.
Peace and Division
“Do you suppose that I am come to bring peace on earth?” The
honest answer has to be that we would hope so. We’ve come to equate Jesus with
peace; is he not the Prince of Peace? The Communion Rite links him with peace;
the discourse at the Last Supper is peppered with the word. Yet, when he
answers his own question, he confuses us. “No. I tell you, but rather
division.”
The homily might look at the life of Jesus for clues as to
how “peace” and “division” can be reconciled. One approach is to find Jesus
exercising options in his life; facing moments when he has a choice of two
roads – the easy pliant one of the prevailing culture or the lonely reforming
one. His decisions cause divisions. Some of the division and turmoil is within
himself (the garden scene.) some between himself and others – his mother and
relatives. Peter on the road to Jerusalem, the final divisiveness of the cross
of scandal.
We can explore how each time Jesus decides to follow the
Father’s will, that one movement has two effects. It divides him off from those
who won’t take the step with him, and it moves Jesus deeper into the kind of
peace that comes from being true to who you are. The peace that Jesus talks
about begins to take a definite shape. It is not the wishy-washy, compromising,
anything-for-a-quiet-life kind of peace. The mention of “division” in the same
breath no longer is seen as strange. We begin to see division as almost the
price of peace. We could spend time going through the decisions of Jesus. He
reached out; he had compassion; he suffered along with people; he understood
pain; he broke bread for the hungry; he befriended the poor and sinners; he was
at ease with the small people who lived in the shadow of the powerful.
The problem is, we’ve read and heard these scenes a thousand
times… but we’ve lost sight of how disruptive and unconventional Jesus was. He
talked of Samaritans saving Jewish lives! He praised the father who embraced
the son who shamed him! You were to share your cloak and tunic, all you wore,
literally! The soldier in the occupying army was to be accompanied not just the
one mile but another mile, unbidden.
Jesus left the self-centred behind, not because he wished
to, but because they did. His open-handed approach to others provoked a
clench-fisted reaction in them. They would have to be rid of this challenging
presence. The crucifixion was meant to silence him for good. Instead, it gave
him the final, supreme option. It not only capped his life of sacrifice but
raised up a symbol to disturb us over the centuries. The sacrificed life of
Jesus indicates the amount of harrowing that must go into all lives if we are
to aspire to the peace he calls us to.
The Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles, writing about the role of
prophecy in the modern church communities in his book Models of the Church,
remarks: “Christianity is not healthy unless there is room in it for prophetic
protest against abuses of authority.” God continues to send such prophets to
every parish community and it is the duty of the bishop, pastor and parish
council to listen to the well-intended and constructive criticisms of such
Jeremiahs.
There was a man who invented the art of making fire. He took
his tools and went to a tribe in the north, where it was very cold, bitterly
cold. He taught the people there to make fire. The people were very interested.
He showed them the uses to which they could put fire: they could cook, could
keep themselves warm, etc. They were so grateful that they had learned the art
of making fire. But before they could express their gratitude to the man, he
disappeared. He wasn’t concerned with getting their recognition or gratitude;
he was concerned about their well-being. He went to another tribe, where he
again began to show them the value of his invention. People were interested
there too, a bit too interested for the peace of mind of their priests, who
began to notice that this man was drawing crowds and they were losing their
popularity. So they decided to do away with him. They poisoned him, crucified
him, put it any way you like. But they were afraid now that the people might
turn against them, so they were very wise, even wily. Do you know what they
did? They had a portrait of the man made and mounted it on the main altar of
the temple. The instruments for making fire were placed in front of the
portrait, and the people were taught to revere the portrait and to pay
reverence to the instruments of fire, which they dutifully did for centuries.
The veneration and the worship went on, but there was no fire.
Where’s the fire? Where’s the love? Where’s the freedom?
This is what spirituality is all about. Tragically, we tend to lose sight of
this, don’t we? This is what Jesus Christ is all about. But we overemphasized
the “Lord, Lord,” didn’t we? Where’s the fire? And if worship isn’t leading to
the fire, if adoration isn’t leading to love, if the liturgy isn’t leading to a
clearer perception of reality, if God isn’t leading to life, of what use is
religion except to create more division, more fanaticism, more antagonism? It
is not from lack of religion in the ordinary sense of the word that the world
is suffering, it is from lack of love, lack of awareness. And love is generated
through awareness and through no other way, no other way. Understand the
obstructions you are putting in the way of love, freedom, and happiness and
they will drop. Turn on the light of awareness and the darkness will disappear.
1. Apple
and the GPS Glitches:
Apple had to issue a warning recently. Customers who were
using a GPS national park hiking trails "app" on their iPhones were
warned about some serious "glitches." In several national parks the
identified trailhead, the mileages, and the directional guides . . . all were
completely off. Several hikers got seriously lost because they trusted
downloaded trail information that was fatally flawed. Those hikers had faith in
the electronic guidance their hiking "app" had given them. But that
faith was rewarded with a "wandering in the wilderness" experience.
If truth be told, we don't take much "on faith"
anymore - or do we? Let's be more precise: We don't take much "on
faith" anymore at least from human sources. Anything a politician or a
government bureaucrat or a corporate CEO or now even an athlete says and swears
is immediately suspicious and suspect. Network media, government warnings and
recommendations of professionals like doctors, lawyers, financial advisors,
tarot card readers - these days we take them all with a hefty helping of salt,
or buckets full of aspirin.
But as the emergency Apple "app" warning revealed,
we do seem to place faith in our electronics. We have more faith in Artificial
Intelligence than human intelligence. We input all of our most private
information - personal, financial, medical, emotional, and we trust that it is
safely stored away. We routinely hit "send" secure in our faith that
our message will go swiftly to its appointed destination without interception
or invasion. We trust our family trips to a GPS screen and a computer-generated
voice that tells us where to go.
What would you do today if your GPS suddenly instructed you
to drive your car around the beltway seven times, honking your horn all along
the way? What if your GPS insisted this was the only way to reach your desired
destination? Would you "have faith" and follow directions?
_____________________
2. Without
the Fire the Seeds Will Never Grow
Stretching south for hundreds of miles from Glacier National
Park lay a majestic mixture of valleys, rushing streams, and gargantuan
mountains called the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Backpackers have hiked there for
decades looking for elk, grizzlies and golden eagles. Fortunately the grizzlies
stay up in the high country, but a golden eagle may be spotted and the elusive
wolverine may be tracked.
The Bob Marshall Wilderness hosts some 90,000 packers and
hikers each year, most of them in the months of July and August. They must come
in either by foot or horseback. No motorized vehicles are allowed. The forests
on those rugged mountain slopes are thick with Lodgepole Pine, a tough, hardy
tree with cones so thick that only extreme heat can burst forth the seeds.
That's where fire comes in. For thousands -- oh, millions of years -- lightning
has cracked the big sky out there down to the forests below. (Often the
lightning will hit the Douglas Firs, less rugged than the Lodgepole Pines, and
a forest fire will begin.) For years, of course, the United States Forest
Service fought furiously to put out these fires. More recently, they have
adopted a policy of managed fires. They have learned these fires have a
purpose. Without them the seeds of the Lodgepole Pines are never released.
Without them much of the underbrush and plant life there does not regenerate.
The earth needs a fire cast on it or it will die.
Jesus, speaking to Peter, that blustery, Lodgepole Pine kind
of a man, said, "Peter, I have a fire to cast over the earth, and how I am
constrained until it be kindled!" What did Jesus mean? He knew that Peter,
like all of his disciples, was a wilderness that needed fire or he would die.
Peter needed the fire of God's Word to keep his heart from freezing over and to
keep the passion of his soul from cooling down.
John G. Lynn, Trouble Journey, CSS Publishing
________________________
3. Like
Fire Cast On the Earth
Martin Luther knew that the ice of human nature had frozen
things over in his day, most especially he thought, in the heart and mind of a
man named Erasmus. To that Dutch humanist Luther wrote the Word of God always
puts the world in a state of tumult because it comes like fire cast on the
earth. "For the Word of God comes, whenever it comes, to change and renew
the world."
Nowhere does the fire of God's Word burn off the ice and
cause tumult more than in the differences between generations, in the relationships
between father and son and mother and daughter. These relationships tend to
freeze over into a cool placidity where mother thinks her daughter must be just
as she is, or son thinks he must be a carbon copy of dad. Not so, says the
gospel. There will not be agreement between mother and daughter or father and
son so much as there will be distinction; each will have a proper share of the
kingdom of God. God's Word burns off the ice of mutual identification and
kindles the fire of proper identity over and over again.
John G. Lynn, Trouble Journey, CSS Publishing.
______________________
4. Splintered
Families
There is evidence of splintered families all around us and
among us. A cartoon strip showed a young woman talking to a minister. She said,
"John and I are having a terrible time, and we need your advice. We are
trying to decide how to divide the furniture, who gets what of the money we've
saved and who gets custody of the children."
"Oh," the minister asked, "are you
contemplating divorce?"
"Oh, no," she replied. "We are trying to work
out our prenuptial agreement."
Carveth Mitchell, The Sign in the Subway, CSS Publishing
Company.
______________________5. A Weird New Religious Cult
A sociology professor every year begins his course on
"The Family" by reading to his class a letter, from a parent, written
to a government official. In the letter the parent complains that his son, once
obedient and well-motivated, has become involved with some weird new religious
cult. The father complains that the cult has taken over the boy's life, has
forced him to forsake all of his old friends, and has turned him against his
family.
After reading the letter, the professor asks the class to
speculate what the father is talking about. Almost without exception, the class
immediately assumes that the subject of the letter is a child mixed up with the
"Moonies," or some other controversial group. After the class puts
out all of the possible conclusions they can think of, the professor surprises
them by revealing that the letter, was written by a third century father in
Rome, the governor of his province, complaining about this weird religious
group called "The Christians."
William H. Beljean, Jr., An Interesting Letter
__________________________
6. Giving
Your Life to the Mission
This past week I have been thinking about people who have
been obsessed with mission. Some years ago, Scott Carpenter died. Scott
Carpenter was one of the great citizens of the United States of America. He was
one of our seven first astronauts. He was truly a great man. Scott Carpenter
was a man who had a sense of mission. Let me read what Scott Carpenter had to
say, "This project of being an astronaut and going to the moon, gives me
the possibility of using all of my capabilities and all of my interests and
gifts at once. This is something that I would be willing to give my life for. I
think a person is fortunate to have something that you care that much about
that you would give your life for. There are risks involved, that's for
sure." Then Scott Carpenter went on to say in the following words in a
letter to his wife, "My dear, if this comes to a fatal, screaming fiery
end for me, I will have three main regrets. I will have lost the opportunity to
prepare for my children's life here on this planet. I will miss the pleasure of
seeing you and loving you when you are a grandmother. And will have never
learned to play the guitar." Signed, Scott. He cared for his wife. He
cared for his children. He wanted to play the guitar. But more than that, more
than his love for his wife and children, more than his wanting to learn to play
the guitar, Scott Carpenter was willing to give his life for the mission to go
to the moon.
What does it mean to give your life for THE mission of Jesus
Christ?
Edward F. Markquart, Christ Brings Division
____________________________________________
7. Making
Decisions
A teenage girl at summer camp was torn between two sets of
friends. Some of them were sunbathing on the dock, saying to her "stay
with us." But her other friends were in a rowboat saying "no, come
with us." There she stood, one foot on the dock, the other foot on the
edge of the boat, and the boat was moving. Trying to appease everyone, trying
to not decide, she ended up falling into the water; and worse, her hair got
wet!
But I think this is exactly what Jesus is addressing in the
gospel lesson today. He is warning us that there will be times when following
him will require us to turn away from something else. There will be times in
this life when we will be required to say "yes" to one thing, and
therefore "no" to the other. And of course, the action we most often
take is the same one that girl did on the swimming dock. We try to go in both
directions. We try to say "yes" to it all, and we end up falling in
between the seams, and being miserable.
Steven Molin, Flashing Yellow Lights
__________________________________________
8. Trouble
Makers
Thank God for those
free thinkers throughout Christendom who have brought fire upon the earth, the
early Church and the Catholic Church which has prevailed for almost 2000 years
holding the banner of Christ.
Martin Luther, who called the church back to a Gospel which
emphasized grace rather than works. John Wyclif and William Tyndale, who
against the wishes of church leadership produced the Bible in the language of
the people. William Wilberforce, against the will of many within the church,
fought the evil ravages of the institution of slavery. Hudson Taylor, who dared
to adopt the customs and culture of the people to whom he was a missionary. He
converted people to Jesus, not to Western culture. He changed the focus of
foreign missions. Men like John and Charles Wesley, Charles Finney, and
Spurgeon, who called upon their churches to reform. They woke the world with
their fiery preaching.
These men were trouble makers. Thinkers. Applecart shakers.
Men who muddied the water just like Jesus. Heroes of the faith, we now call
the, because they were not afraid of division. They knew Jesus did not come to
bring peace but a sword. In other words: Truth. God's truth is like that. It is
a double edged sword. What sounds like peace, the peace that Christ gives, really
isn't peace as the world would have it. It is peace as God would have it. And
what kind of peace is it that God wants? He wants the peace that exist between
you and Him when the weight of your sins no longer are a snare and you can run
with endurance the race set before you.
Brett Blair
_________________________
9. What
Is Unique About Christianity?
The story of Jesus sitting and debating the Law with rabbis
reminds me of another debate that took place in a comparative religions
conference, the wise and the scholarly were in a spirited debate about what is
unique about Christianity. Someone suggested what set Christianity apart from
other religions was the concept of incarnation, the idea that God became
incarnate in human form. But someone quickly said, "Well, actually, other
faiths believe that God appears in human form." Another suggestion was
offered: what about resurrection? The belief that death is not the final word.
That the tomb was found empty. Someone slowly shook his head. Other religions
have accounts of people returning from the dead.
Then, as the story is told, C.S. Lewis walked into the room,
tweed jacket, pipe, armful of papers, a little early for his presentation. He
sat down and took in the conversation, which had by now evolved into a fierce
debate. Finally during a lull, he spoke saying, "what's all this rumpus
about?" Everyone turned in his direction. Trying to explain themselves
they said, "We're debating what's unique about Christianity."
"Oh, that's easy," answered Lewis. “It’s grace.”
The room fell silent.
Lewis continued that Christianity uniquely claims God’s love
comes free of charge, no strings attached. No other religion makes that claim.
After a moment someone commented that Lewis had a point,
Buddhists, for example, follow an eight-fold path to enlightenment. It’s not a
free ride.
Hindus believe in karma, that your actions continually
affect the way the world will treat you; that there is nothing that comes to
you not set in motion by your actions.
Someone
else observed the Jewish code of the law implies God has requirements for
people to be acceptable to him and in Islam God is a God of Judgement not a God
of love. You live to appease him
At the end of the discussion everyone concluded Lewis had a point.
At the end of the discussion everyone concluded Lewis had a point.
Only
Christianity dares to proclaim God’s love is unconditional. An unconditional
love that we call grace.
Christians boldly proclaim that grace really has precious little to do with us, our inner resolve, or our lack of inner resolve.
Christians boldly proclaim that grace really has precious little to do with us, our inner resolve, or our lack of inner resolve.
Rather,
grace is all about God and God freely giving to us the gifts of forgiveness,
mercy, and love.
10. The Priest with Fire: Father James Gilhooley
*************
From Fr. Tony Kadavil’s Collection:
10. The Priest with Fire: Father James Gilhooley
| A priest was getting on a bus. Somehow his shoe came off and fell into the street. Since he could not retrieve it, he took off the second one. He threw it out the window in the direction of the other one. To a puzzled looking passenger, he said, "The fellow who finds the first shoe now will have a good pair to walk about in." I have just returned from retreat. Hopefully I am filled with grace. But certainly I am filled with gossip from my fellow priests. They were filled with information about new assignments from our bishop. The shocker is that a certified firebrand among the brethern has been sent to a very proper and wealthy parish as pastor. The priest in question has been lining up on the side of the poor, disenfranchised, and the oppressed since he was priested a quarter of a century ago. Wherever he goes, fire follows him. He has all the scars, many of them quite glorious and even enviable, that go with such a career. Everyone at the retreat had an opinion pro and con on the appointment. Most dared not speak them publicly since the bishop himself was present. But the one point on which all agreed is that the parish will become a different creation. Given his track record, the new man will most assuredly bring fire to the parish in question. The fox-hunting set there will never be the same again. These aristocrats may well come to feel that they are among the hunted. But today's Gospel tells us that fire is precisely what the Teacher brought to the earth. Therefore, can we fault a priest if he himself brings that same torch to a small corner of the Teacher's Church? Do you really think the Christ would fault him especially since he is but following His example? Quite obviously our bishop does not fault him. |
From Fr. Tony Kadavil’s Collection:
1. “Be
God’s prophets and God’s microphones” (Oscar Romero).
God sends His prophets to give the world His message in
every century. Oscar Romero, Blessed Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Nelson
Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dom Helder Camara,
Maura Clark, Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Jeanne Donovan, and Ella Baker were all
twentieth century prophets who had the courage of their Christian convictions
to follow Jesus and proclaim his undiluted message which cast fire on earth and
caused healthy division in the society as today’s gospel points out. In
1980, in the midst of a U.S.-funded genocidal war against the so-called leftist
rebels in El Salvador, Archbishop Oscar Romero who sided with the poor,
exploited farm workers, declared: “If they kill all your priests and the bishop
too, each one of you must become God's microphone, each one of you must become
a prophet." "I do not believe in death without
resurrection." "If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the
Salvadoran people." Amid overarching violence, Romero wrote to
President Jimmy Carter pleading with him to cease sending military aid to the
brutal military regime because, he wrote, "it is being used to repress my
people." The U.S. sent $1.5 million in aid every day for 12 years.
Archbishop Romero’s letter went unheeded. Two months later he was
assassinated. Ending a long homily addressed to the pro-government land
owners and peasants and the military and broadcast throughout the country, his
voice rose to breaking, "Brothers, you are from the same people; you kill
your fellow peasants . . . No soldier is obliged to obey an order that is
contrary to the will of God.” There was thunderous applause; he was
inviting the army to mutiny. Then his voice burst, "In the name of
God then, in the name of this suffering people I ask you, I beg you, I command
you in the name of God: stop the repression." Oscar Romero gave his
last homily on March 24, moments before a sharpshooter felled him at the altar
of a hospital chapel. Reflecting on the day’s scripture, he had said,
"One must not love oneself so much, as to avoid getting involved in the
risks of life that history demands of us, and those that fend off danger will
lose their lives." In an interview as he was flying to Brazil in
May, 2007 Pope Benedict told the reporters, “Romero as a person merits
beatification.” In July 2007, the new Salvadoran conservative government
said it would formally request the Vatican to beatify Romero although it will
not accept responsibility for his slaying. Today’s readings remind us
that the Church needs prophets like Romero and cautions contemporary prophets
that their course will not be easy.
(http://salt.claretianpubs.org/romero/romero.html).
2. Apathetic Attitude:
In 1993, the total attendance at worship services in the
United States came to 5.6 billion. The total attendance for all pro-basketball,
baseball and football games combined was only 103 million, less than 2 percent
of the number who attended worship ["To Verify: Statistics for Christian
Communicators," Leadership 15 (Fall 1994), 50).] We complain about a
shrinking church membership when the numbers actually point to a shrinking
sense of excitement and exuberance for Christ's sake. In the name of sports,
those 103 million get stadiums built, get team franchises moved, give local
economies a boost and get whole regions of the country stand-up-and-shout
excited. In the name of Christ, how much more could 5.6 billion accomplish in
this country in the world if they were as "on fire" as the sports
fans?
3. Courage
to confront:
In the 1920s, an English adventurer named Mallory led an
expedition to conquer Mount Everest. His first, second and even his third
attempt with an experienced team met with failure. Upon his return to England,
the few who had survived held a banquet to salute Mallory and those who had
perished. As he stood up to speak he looked around he saw picture frames of
himself and those who had died. Then he turned his back on the crowd and faced
a large picture of Mount Everest looming large like an unbeatable giant. With
tears streaming down his face, he spoke to the mountain on behalf of his dead
friends. “I speak to you Mt. Everest, in the name of all brave men living, and
those yet unborn. Mt. Everest, you defeated us once, you defeated us twice; you
defeated us three times. But Mt. Everest, we shall someday defeat you, because
you can’t get any bigger, but we can.” Today’s scripture challenges us to
confront the world with prophetic courage of our Christian convictions (John
Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies).
