| Romans 6:19-23 View Readings | Psalm 1:1-4, 6 | Luke 12:49-53 |
Very often the words of Jesus Christ calm us, comfort us,
help us to know the loving nearness of God. Yet, today’s Gospel shakes us up a
little. We hear Our Lord speak with
great passion that he has come to set the world on fire, and how he wishes it
were already burning! There is an urgency
here. Jesus is on a mission to enflame
hearts with fiery love for God.
Our Parish Retreat has concluded, hopefully it has helped to
reignite and renew the flame of faith in our parish.
On the road to Emmaus, the disciples who encountered the
risen Lord, proclaimed “Were not our hearts burning inside us as He talked to
us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"
It was not mere words about Jesus that caught their hearts
on fire, but it was the encounter with the risen Lord himself. They encountered Him. I think the effectiveness of our parish
retreat can be measured to the extent that it helps people encounter Christ,
and that it helps us decrease and Christ increase. Its purpose was not to entertain, but to help
us encounter Christ once again, and to learn to encounter him in our daily
difficulties—in the carrying of our crosses.
We are to be the torch God uses to set other hearts on
fire. And that’s why there is an urgency
in the Gospel today, because he wants our lives on fire, not mediocre and
lukewarm, but on fire, that we can spread that fire throughout the world.
We pray today that those whom we encounter on the road will
encounter the fire of Christ alive in our hearts. That they can meet Christ in us today as we
seek to share and heal and preach and serve, for the glory of God and salvation
of souls.
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