Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 26, 2023 - Thursday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 6:19-23 and Luke 12:49-53]"I have come to set the world 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! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans]
Jesus' preaching and that of the early Christian missionaries calls for a decision and that decision can have strong consequences for the believer. In the Gospel According to Luke, fire is associated with the Holy Spirit and with cleansing of life. The community to which the Gospel According to Luke was originally directed was basically Gentile. The acceptance of Christianity meant decisions that could be countercultural. Division could reach deeply, even into family relationships. We know from our own experiences how true that can be. I know of students who joined the Catholic church from another tradition who experienced negative reactions from parents, siblings and other family members almost to the point of being disowned!
Religious faith is more than an intellectual assent to a set of written propositions or even to a written Creed. It is more than following a set of customs in worship and devotion. It is a matter of one's whole life-orientation. St. Paul speaks to this in the first scripture today. Faith may require an entire change of lifestyle, which can put a person at odds with family, friends, employment and other relationships. Faith can bring us face to face with our cultural prejudices which previously separated us from various other people or practices. As St. Paul points out, it is a matter of life and death: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN