On this 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we are presented with texts about division. The prophet Jeremiah is thrown into an empty cistern, and he literally sinks into the mud.
It seems that even the ruler of Israel, king Zedekiah, is powerless to stop this persecution, this torment, that the righteous prophet faces. The second reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews, asks us to consider the “hostility” that Jesus endured. Finally, in the Gospel, Christ speaks about division, and how families will be divided – for and against – the Messiah.
Why is there division and resistance to the message of Jesus Christ? Last Sunday, also in the Gospel of Luke, we heard words concerning discipleship: “Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required.” We are used to texts, where Jesus speaks as the meek and humble lamb – “Take my cross upon yourself, my yoke is easy and my burden is light, I am meek and humble of heart, etc.” In this text, Jesus speaks of Himself as the one who has brought division upon the earth, including that most painful of all divisions – conflicts in the family.
What is the cause of this division? This division exists partly because there are some people who will reject the Gospel message; they will reject the Gospel message no matter how much good work is done by the Church, by lay people, by different religious communities. The more radically someone may live the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, the more radically some people will oppose you. The basic sign of the Christian faith is the Cross, and the Cross is a sign of contradiction, Jesus Christ crucified causes division. The old spiritual norm, is that wherever there is much good – there will also be some evil. Wherever someone is trying to live the Christian life – there will also be resistance, and conflict. Whenever someone is caring for the poor, working with the poor – there will also be accusations and suspicion. Maybe in our own families there was division, between mother, daughter, father, son, children and parents.
However, division also exists because as Gaudium et Spes from the Second Vatican Council reminds us, man is divided within himself: “he suffers from internal divisions, and from these flow so many and such great discords in society”, “For in man himself many elements wrestle with one another” (GS 10). The Letter to the Hebrews asks us to “consider Jesus, who endured such hostility against himself”. Those who want to serve their fellow brothers and sisters need to be reminded that sometimes they will have the gratitude of those brothers and sisters, and sometimes not. But we are called to serve anyway.
Jesus, in the Gospel, speaks of the baptism with which he would be baptized, and he exclaimed, “What stress am I under until it is completed”. Would that all of us, as Catholics, treat our own baptism as seriously as that. Through baptism and confirmation, as Lumen Gentium reminds us, lay men and women are asked to participate in the lay apostolate, and are “commissioned to that apostolate by the Lord Himself” (LG 33). “Further, they [the lay faithful] have the capacity to assume from the Hierarchy certain ecclesiastical functions, which are to be performed for a spiritual purpose” (LG 33).
In the midst of dealing with divisions, we need to be reminded of the quiet good that steadily vivifies the world, that firmly overcomes evil with patient endurance. This past week, two people from our area have handed themselves over to Christ: Sister Maria Immaculata, when she professed her final vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the SOLI sisters on Thursday; and Deacon Michael Coyne, who made promises of celibacy and obedience, and was ordained to the transitional diaconate on Friday. Despite the tumult and noise of our world, Christ continues to call men and women to follow him. On Thursday of this week, we will express our gratitude for over 25 years of faithful and untiring service offered to our parish and to the diocese by one of our own permanent deacons, Robert McDonald.
To live a life of service, you and I need to be very close to Christ, and His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christ is the one who brings fire to the earth, and He does it through our hands, our feet, our eyes, our ears. He is the one who will give his faithful servants everything that they need for service, including service in the lay apostolate. Most of all, Christ is the one who gives us the most precious gift – the gift of His friendship, intimacy with him, and the solace that flows from His heart alone.
(Fr. Pawel Ratajczak, OMI, Aug. 18, 2019)