Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 14, 2022 - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C [2010: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary]
[Jer 38:4-6, 8-10; Heb 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53]"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." [Luke]
In my years of itinerant ministry, preaching retreats and parish missions across the USA, it was not unusual to hear of family division because of religion. The problem is an old one, as the words of Jesus indicate in the gospel passage today. Parents and grandparents would speak to me in and out of the confessional about their sadness at their children and grandchildren no longer practicing the faith or else having joined one of the mega-churches of a popular evangelical type. In university settings, this could take the form of a son or daughter coming under the influence of a cult-like group that prevented communication between member and family of origin. In some cases (which the church does not recommend because it is unrecorded), anxious grandparents have privately baptized grandchildren without the permission of the parents. (A visiting priest at one of my campus ministries once baptized an infant whose parents were divorced or separated and I got an angry demand from the opposed parent that I erase the record of the baptism!!!!)
The Gospel According to Luke reflects the experience of the missionary church at the time of its composition. Christianity was a "new" faith and not well understood by non-believers whether Jew or Gentile. But the problem has not gone away because Christian groups whether Catholic or Protestant or Eastern Orthodox tend to foster division by mutual antipathy and misunderstanding. Ecumenism's initial enthusiasm after the Second Vatican Council has had to realize that the ancient divisions plus those of the 16th century "reformation" are not easily healed and Christianity still remains deeply divided. A lot of prayer and effort still lie ahead before we can realize Jesus' own prayer "that all may be one." [John 17:21] AMEN