"Do you want to know if your Christianity is genuine? Here is the touchstone: Whom do you get along with? Who are those who criticize you? Who are those who do not accept you? Who are those who flatter you?"

A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed - what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don’t bother anyone, that’s the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in  - Archbishop Oscar Romero: (1917 –1980: was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador, who served as the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador)

Gospel Text: (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.”

Is Jesus for peace? Or for conflict?

Indeed, allowing Jesus into our lives will mean changes in our lives. The values he proposes are so different from the values prevalent around us. We can say that he prevents us from merely settling down. We are forced to discern what is right and what is wrong. We are forced to feel uncomfortable at the suffering and need of others. We are challenged to do and offer greater things for God.

In truth accepting Jesus is not to accept conflict and pain but the invitation to accept whatever would be to God's greater glory and the greater good of our neighbor.