Thursday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

First of all, I want to say that my reflections are personal reflections:  I do not speak for the Catholic Church, or any other religious organization, only myself.  My hope is that this reflection will be of some help to anyone who chooses to read it.

What strikes me about this passage are:  1) the image of a fire burning; 2) the “division” that Jesus wants to bring to the earth.

The “fire” that Jesus wants to bring to this earth is not a fire of pain and suffering, but the fire of God’s love.  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit paleontologist, said something along the lines of  as soon as the human race fully embraces the love of God, humanity will discover fire for the second time.  That is the “blazing fire” that Jesus wants to give to the world:  the fire of God’s love.  This love is not a weepy, emotional, drama-driven, soap-opera love:  God’s love is fiercely compassionate, unyielding and tenacious in ministering to the poor and oppressed.

This love will not tolerate a Pax Romana, a false peace based upon subjugation or fear.  God’s love brings about divisions, because when we turn to God and let Him into our lives, God seeks out the sin and fear that is holding us prisoner.  Once found, Christ’s love penetrates deep within our hearts and souls and vanquishes the sin that keeps us from being fully alive in Christ.

As a result, those places of our lives that are controlled by sin or fear will experience a “holy upheaval,” as immoral habits, insecurities and bad relationships are exposed to the purifying, white-hot fire of God’s love and grace.  With the light from the fire of God’s love, we are able to see clearly those habits or relationships that are keeping us from fully loving God and others, and we are able to begin to extricate ourselves from those unholy and healthy realities with laser-like precision.  Of course, this process will often create painful divisions, but with God’s love and grace these divisions are filled with new habits and new relationships that bring us closer to Christ and closer to fullness of life.

So, we should be grateful that Jesus’ love is one that creates divisions. Opening ourselves to God’s love and grace, we should be confident that the blazing rays of His love will purify us of any sin or fear that is holding us as a prisoner of false peace.  Only then will we experience the “holy division” that will lead us to true peace and fullness of life.