October 20, 2005

Lk 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples:“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! 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.”
The baptism of Jesus will the crucifixion. It will set off a fire of faith in resurrection and the Son of God that will separate many. It is a mystery that it should divide in order to unite us to God. To be Christian means to be able to die as Jesus did in many ways during life. I have seen that there are contradictions and confusions at times. The acceptance of struggling and suffering is a difficult process and one that I do not often embrace as Jesus does in the reading above. I pray for the strength and fortitude to embrace whatever God has on my path for this day.