Todays gospel reading is probably one of the most confusing passages in the New Testament—at first sight, it may seem that it runs contrary to everything that the Gospel stands for. “I come not to bring peace but division”…”I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it was already burning … a household will be divided against each other … father against his son … mother against her daughter.” How can we reconcile this with Jesus Christ who presents himself as the Prince of Peace? How can we reconcile this with the Gospel that always speaks and espouses for love, even to one’s enemies?
To take the Gospel this Sunday in isolation from the rest of the Scriptures runs the risk of misinterpretation and losing an important message of Christ. One of the radical effects of being born again in Christ, in virtue of our baptism, is that we become new persons. At the very beginning of the Rite of Baptism, we are reminded of this when the priest does the signing of the cross on the forehead of the child being baptized: “N., the Christian community welcomes you with great joy. In its name, I claim you for Christ our Savior by the sign of his cross. I now trace the cross on your forehead and invite your parents (and godparents) to do the same; you have become a new creation and have clothed yourself in Christ. And towards the end, we also hear these words to the newly baptized: See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.” Those words are indicators that, in virtue of our baptism in Christ, we are no longer of this world, and that the values of the kingdom of God are now our guides and the compasses that direct our lives day by day. Is this easily done? Well, of course not—this is precisely the point of Jesus in the gospel today. Since we are now part of God’s kingdom, but still finding ourselves in the midst of a world of temptation, we experience constant challenges; we find ourselves in situations that directly contradict the moral values that our faith teaches us; we encounter people that espouse values that are
different from ours; and, many times, staying firm in our own faith convictions and moral values can bring about divisions, can imperil or jeopardize relationships, can damage friendships, can cost us of our jobs or even cost us our own very life. I remember a good friend of mine, whom I am godfather to their first child, who told me that she turned down a very good paying job when she knew that part of her contract as a medical doctor was to perform abortions. When other people heard that she turned down a very after sought position with very lucrative benefits and salary, many people could not believe it, but she said in the end that her conscience was not at peace knowing that performing abortions could be part of her job. That is the kind of division that Christ is talking about in the Gospel. To truly embrace Christ is to experience that kind of division – division from what the secular world is trying to promote, division from a culture of death, and division or separation from a world that separates us from the love of Christ. To totally commit ourselves to Christ can be unsettling, unnerving and can be uncomfortable because it will surely rock our world and will ask us to make choices and decisions that at times can even hurt the people who are closest to us. I remember a young woman who was kicked out of her parents’ house after they learned that she was in the RCIA program. For weeks, she moved from one friend’s house to another because she had no where to go; after some time, when she felt that she was no longer welcome at her friends’ houses, she found herself in the adoration chapel those evenings when she had no place to go. It was one of the most difficult phases of her life. She was baptized and kept the faith in the end. Talk about division in family brought by her faith in Christ. Just take a look at
Jeremiah in the first reading today, fearless in his proclamation in the message of Yahweh even though almost everyone, including the king, was against him. They had thrown him in a cistern, thinking that he would stop preaching the truth, but he never wavered until he was freed.
I have asked this question before, but it is worth asking again: Why does God demand so much of us? Imagine – he demands that we give up our families, even our lives for him – why does he ask so much of us? One spiritual giant, Meister Eckhart, put it this way very clearly: “It is not due to God’s justice or his severity that he demands so much of us; rather, it comes from his great bounty, for he wants the soul to be capacious so as to hold the great blessings he is ready to bestow.” That is why for centuries, until now, there are many people, thousands of people, who have been so willing to offer their lives for the Gospel—just think of the martyrs of faith; just think of those people in other parts of the world who would gather each Sunday for Mass underground, with the constant fear of being caught by religious police and being sentenced to death or life time imprisonment. This recalls the words in the Book of Hebrew in today’s second reading: “Since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”
We might not all be called to martyrdom but, every single day, we are called to make a firm yes to the Gospel, a free and liberating yes to Christ, even if it will cost us something
important to us, but we take huge comfort in the fact that to say yes to Christ is to gain the most important treasure there is. As what the second reading today proclaims “For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” Are we courageous enough to say yes everyday to the Gospel and to Christ?
I mentioned two weeks ago that we are in the process of staff reorganization. With Mary Kiefer leaving Youth Ministry, we have designated Betsy Willing as the new Youth Ministry and Young Adult Coordinator. I will keep you posted with regard to our new pre-school coordinator. Our kindergarten program is now with the Elementary Religious Education department under Amy Maris-Volf. Father Anthony will direct the Adult Faith Formation area, specifically overseeing the Bible Study groups and other seasonal and parish-wide adult faith offerings. The Called to Protect and Armatus, the US Church’s comprehensive safe environment program for parishes and schools, is now
handled by Michelle Hallett, who is also our Coordinator for Development and Parish Events. The staff reorganization is always meant to ensure greater efficiency in our services to our parishioners. Any kind of change is always bumpy at the
beginning, but I do hope and pray that these transitions will bring us to greater efficiency in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. May the good Lord who has begun the good works in us bring it to completion. – Fr. Cary