Dear Preachers:

Just in case any of us preachers thought preaching was getting easy or a routine ministry for us, today’s gospel passage should shake us our of our late summer hammocks. And just in case our congregations find the stories about Jesus "sweet" or "homey", they too have a shock in store for them today. It’s the middle of August, a vacation time for many. We gather physical and emotional reserves for the rapid slide into returning to work and the September going-back-to- school rush. While most people say they like their jobs, there are some who are able to keep at them by looking forward to weekends and summer vacation. Our vacations seem to go by too quickly, minced up by time spent on a sick child, a parent’s surgery, bad weather and other surprise events. Coming off the treasured break that a vacation can give, causes some of us into at least a mild depression. Many feel blue as we watch the free time rush by and another summer come to an end.

Why couldn’t today’s gospel passage give us all, preachers and congregation, a break? The lilies of the field, birds of the air or sheep and shepherd images would seem much more consoling (they aren’t really, but never mind, I’m making a point here!); much more consoling than Jesus the fire brand spewing fire and forecasts of family division.

In the Catholic liturgy today the gospel minister will end this reading by announcing, "The Gospel (Good News) of the Lord." And the congregation, without a moment’s pause, will respond, "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ." I am thinking of starting my homily by asking them if they really want to praise Jesus in the light of what he just said to us... "I have come to set the earth on fire.... Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." (Strange punctuation in the English text, don’t you think? Shouldn’t there be an exclamation point? It sounds like it’s said with a loud voice and with plenty of heat!)

For these past three weeks we have been in chapter 12 of Luke. Jesus has been giving advice and warning to his disciples as they travel to Jerusalem. Tensions are mounting against him and his band of followers and so he is preparing them for the inevitable. You would think his words would sound more comforting. Surely his disciples are feeling the mounting tensions, the kind we do when we are taking a disciple’s stance. Instead, he tells them that he has not come to establish peace, but division. Are we as confused as they must have been?

Well he surely isn’t going to reinforce an artificial peace, the kind of comfort and rest those in the establishment have. For those who see no need for God in their lives, or no need to rethink the comfortable notion they have of God (the God they credit as "blessing" them with their possessions and securing their exalted position over the rest of humanity), for these, their illusionary peace will be shattered by Jesus’ coming into their holy city and by his preaching. God, Jesus announces, is not a divine rubber stamp of approval on their self centered lives. Those who hear Jesus’ message about a God who loves even the least among us, even those outside the confines of their comfort based religion—these will be distressed if they accept Jesus. They will have to trade in their self-styled peace and complacency for the peace Jesus offers the least in God’s reign. They will feel an initial unsettling as they move out the tent pegs to embrace a more inclusive God and a more diverse and maybe uncomfortable community of holy ones.

There are those who gain much from injustice in the world. Those of us in the first world are often so far removed from the consequences of our life styles that we just keep pursing what our money and desires want. Many Americans often see no further than the edges of their manicured lawns. They are quite at peace as they continue to strive for their life goals. Enter today’s firebrand Jesus, who attacks such superficial security, who calls us to God’s peaceable dominion. Here a new set of values governs the community of believers, where the citizens do not purchase their worth and esteem before God; but are given them as gift when they admit their poverty and need for God..

Jesus will continue to preach and live the peace given only to those who love and strive to live in a community of concern for their sisters and brothers; who work to tear down walls of division created by a near-sighted world. Those who hear his message are open to the real peace he is offering. They will have to make serious personal and social changes in their lives. In making these adjustments, some of which will be major and require enormous shifts in the way they have been living, these will alienate those closest to them--- even their own family members. In the close knit Mediterranean families of Jesus’ time, his message of family splintering, because of him, must have been very hard to hear. These divisions and conflicts existed in the early Christian community for whom Luke wrote his gospel. In the midst of the turbulence caused by their decision in favor of Jesus, these seeming harsh words of Jesus were really reassuring. "See," they would have said, "he warned us his fate would be ours as well." They would feel assurance in seeing their pain in the light of his words to them.

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah will be opposed by royalty and even other prophets because he was predicting the fall of Jerusalem. As a consequence, the royal household turned on him and threw him into a cistern. They and their false prophets did not want to hear the truth. They prefer a peace of their own making and they want to make an alliance with the powerful Babylonian empire. Their peace failed them, they should have listened to the message of Jeremiah, which would make them initially uncomfortable, but which would bring them the peace God wanted for them. Such too was Jesus’ mission: to speak unpopular but true words to a demoralized people. (We detect the parallels between Jeremiah and Jesus and why the first reading was chosen to go with today’s gospel.) Jesus called them from their self destructive independence to a God who would welcome all—powerful and weak; rich and poor; religious righteous and religious outcast; male and female; slave and free. The peace he offers does not come without cost. Accepting him and his way, will even separate us from our old self---perhaps the most painful division we must suffer.

The opening verses of today’s gospel (vv. 49-50) are unique to Luke. In them we find the symbol of fire. No symbol can be reduced to a simple explanation, and so the biblical image of fire is multivalent, it speaks in many ways and on many levels. Just to suggest a few of its connotations---- Fire represents the divine holiness and action. God’s word is like fire (Jer 23:29). Theophanies feature fire, remember Moses and the burning bush? Fire leads the Israelites at night across the desert (Exodus 13: 21-22) and was present on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18). A fire burned constantly in the temple to signify God’s special presence there and offerings to God were consumed in the fire at the temple’s altar. Earlier in Luke, John the Baptist spoke of Jesus as one who would, " baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (3:16) Luke unites the Spirit, baptism and fire again in Acts when the disciples are baptized with the Holy Spirit and fiery tongues. All of these meanings and more, are present when Jesus speaks about setting a fire on the earth.

Jesus is anxious to see his mission accomplished. In Jerusalem he will undergo a baptism of pain and death when darkness will reign. (At his crucifixion, Luke says, "darkness covered the land." v 23:24.) But his death will strike a fire that will burn in the midst of the community of believers and no power will be able to overcome it. The fire of the Holy Spirit will guide the new pilgrim people to their divine destiny. Unlike the flame in the temple, which was extinguished when the temple was destroyed, this flame will never go out, will always burn away sin and show the way to holiness. Jesus yearns for that fire and his death will ignite it, set it burning in the world.

The preacher may want to pick up on Jesus’ zeal in this passage. It is fiery and passionate, showing his desire to faithfully and zealously finish his mission. So, where is that flame in modern believers? Be careful as you pose this question. Are we looking for it only in the fiery figures of our day? Do we think there are not enough of them and so are inclined to belittle modern believers?

What about the flame of constancy that burns in faithful Christians all around us? The aged and dying woman still fingering her beads, saying the name of Jesus over and over as she dies surrounded by her children; the theologian spending long and solitary hours in study and writing; the father holding down two jobs so his daughter can go to college; the teenager resisting the tidal wave of daily temptation; the minster raising her children and still spending long hours tending her flock; the young couple choosing low teachers’ salaries because they want to "make a difference in the lives of the younger generation; the priest or deacon, spending a long day visiting the sick in the hospital and still finding time for some prayer and study for the next preaching.

You get the idea: look around your community and name the flame of God’s presence. It’s easy to excoriate a community for not having a burning faith, or not carrying a bright torch of zeal. But with the eyes of faith, we will notice the fire is far from out. It burns steadily in our community and we witness its effects in many marvelous, though frequently quiet and anonymous ways. It’s the preacher’s job to point out the fire Jesus started, to indicate where we can look to see evidence that it still burns. For in naming the flame, we are naming God’s active, holy and cleansing presence in our midst. So, it turns out, we can say, "Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!", when we hear today’s gospel!

I love the concrete images used in the readings today. In the first reading, we find Jeremiah sinking in mud because of outside forces. Have you ever been literally stuck in mud, had your car mired in a rut, or been economically or mentally depressed? Trying to get out completely saps your energy. In the second reading, we see the journey of faith described as running a race, more marathon than sprint. Finally, we have the image of Jesus setting the world on fire. Did you know that some of the trees in the western United States need a fire to be able to activate new seeds of growth?

Poverty is like being mired in the mud; there is a sense of hopelessness, of being alone, as you struggle to survive. But our mental attitude toward the poor and the unjustly disadvantaged can also be one of mud.

The bishops’ reflection continues: "This crisis requires us to look at our world with fresh eyes, with a renewed respect for the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of life. . .The Holy Spirit prompts us to radical solidarity with those who suffer, and to charity, ‘an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace’" (Caritas in Veritate, 1). By seeking to emulate the life and words of Jesus and the teaching of his Church, we discern the call to serve those in need and to work actively for social and economic justice.

Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director

Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries

Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

FAITH BOOK

Jesus said, "I have come to set the earth on fire

and how I wish it were already blazing!"

In the beginning of his gospel Luke gives us the story of Jesus’ birth, with the warming scene of the angels singing, "Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those whom God favors." It is clear from today’s passage that the peace Jesus brings to his followers is not the peace of comfort and the well-being the world desires. Following him will not be a life of calm and tranquility.

• What makes us uncomfortable about Jesus’ teachings?

• Does what he asks of us set us apart from those who know us?

POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES

"One has to strongly affirm that condemnation to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity, in whatever form it is carried out."
---Pope Francis

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or, whatever personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you might consider becoming pen pals.

Please write to:

----Central Prison P.O. 247 Phoenix, MD 21131

Please note: Central Prison is in Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail to inmates is processed through a clearing house at the above address in Maryland.

If you would like to support this ministry, please send tax deductible contributions to Fr. Jude Siciliano, OP.

St. Albert Priory
3150 Vince Hagan Drive
Irving, Texas 75062-4736

Make checks payable to: Dominican Friars.

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