Homily for Thursday, 23 October 2014– Ferial

Thursday of the 29th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Ephesians 3:14-21; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19; Luke 12:49-53

How many of us are troubled by Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading? If Jesus’ words cause us uneasiness, I suspect that our reaction to Jesus is similar to that of Jesus’ first disciples.

Do not most of us like to think of God; of Jesus as a God of peace?  And yet today Jesus warns us: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” This division affects not only people distant from us but, most sadly, those closest to us; our households; our families. “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,” Jesus says.

How many times have I been sought to console people, even in our parish, whose families are divided? I hear occasionally, “My daughter or son has nothing to do with the Church. I am concerned as to whether or not my grandchild will be baptized…” Those of us who experience divided families; some of your loved ones who have turned away from their faith; our faith; family members lost and estranged from the Church: You share in Christ’s Cross in a profound way. You share in the baptism by fire that Jesus wishes in today’s Gospel “were already blazing.” Indeed it blazes already in the hearts of many of our faithful.

The hope in all this is that those of us who share in Christ’s Cross; who suffer family disharmony; who are not at peace are also promised a share in Christ’s resurrection. How is this?

Know that division, especially within families, is not of God. By his words in our Gospel reading, Jesus does not mean that he himself will create division. But divisions have occurred and will continue to occur over how faithfully or not members of our communities; our Church; our families follow Christ and learn from Christ’s Gospel of peace.

How, then, do we know we are following Christ and his Gospel? Our consciences are our best witness to the authenticity of our following Christ. On the one hand, if we are making deliberate attempts to seek peace; to heal relationships; to listen to others before we speak, even if the message is not something we want to hear, we are close to following Christ’s Gospel. By following in this way we may bear crosses, but with Christ we will rise to new life; to a fullness of peace.

On the other hand, if communication is lacking; if there is exclusion; if there is insecurity, envy, or arrogance; if there are words and actions meant to hurt, even in return for having been hurt; if we feel the need to appease our guilt; to justify our actions that divide; to present those actions in a perverse way as love, then we are in need of repentance.

This repentance; this healing of God is ours if we seek it. Jesus warns of division, but promises resurrection to us who share in his Cross, and peace to people; to families who live by Christ’s Gospel of peace.