THE WORD
Eph 3,14-21 / Lk 12,49-53
[Jesus said to his disciples,] “I have come to set the earth on re, 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.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Sometimes, we are confronted with a “What-did-you-just-say?” moment. This usually happens when the person says something we are not expecting that person to say. We have this situation in today’s Gospel. In the prophecy about Jesus in Isaiah, the Savior would be called, among other things, “Prince of Peace”. Jesus sent out his disciples to preach the Good News and told them to say “Peace to this house” when entering a home. Even today, the Church prays for peace.
Thus, when Jesus speaks of bringing division instead of peace, it gives us pause and really think about this statement. We realize that to follow Jesus is to make a decision, sometimes causing us to follow a different path from others’. In my mission work in Japan, I have come across mothers disapproving of their daughters’ decision to be baptized Catholics. This, though, is more of an exception than the rule. I feel the disapproval comes not so much out of a dislike for Catholicism as from a misconception of what the Catholic Church really is.
But in the larger society, where we belong to different groups, we can also sometimes nd this concern at work when we choose to follow our Christian convictions rather than give in to peer pressure to do evil or turn a blind eye. We can be ostracized for not being a “good group member” because we decide against following others doing bad deeds.
In the end, we have to make a choice. To decide whom to follow. To be a Christian is to follow Christ. And to follow Christ means to take up the cross. It is not an easy path. Let us pray that even in the midst of a divided world, we will always be instruments of peace.
- Fr. Chito Lorenzo, SVD | Japan
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience. The Word in other words 2016
