Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 24, 2013 - Thursday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 6:19-23 and Luke 12:49-53]I have come to set the earth on fire, 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!
There is an old expression used to describe someone who has just undergone an ordeal in getting something started. We say that he or she has had their "baptism of fire." Scripture scholars suggest that St. Luke is quoting Jesus here as a way of warning disciples that they must be prepared to undergo a "baptism of fire" in preaching the gospel. Indeed, the coming of the Holy Spirit in Luke's "volume two" is represented in "tongues of fire." [Acts 2:3] Possibly Luke is aware of Jesus' warning to James and John [Mark 10:39] that they would have to undergo his "baptism" in order to be part of the kingdom! Many of the disciples would indeed suffer in the same way that Jesus did.
Most of us live a fairly "comfortable" faith. Although we know of families who have been divided by religious differences, terrible ordeals for faith seem either part of the past or something that occurs in the Middle East or happened during the "cold war" under communism. We may forget contemporary figures like Archbishop Romero or the Jesuits and Maryknoll sisters in El Salvador. Discipleship can be costly and demanding in terms of daily living, but it can also demand ultimate choices. The words of Jesus and the example of contemporary martyrs should remind us of this. AMEN