“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against.”

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Arthur Schopenhauer: (1788 –1860: was a German philosopher)

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."

In today’s chaotic and charged public dialogue, we often retreat to those safe groups or cable networks where all my assumptions are affirmed and reinforced. We can’t seem to tolerate others who might challenge our assumptions or biases. Rather than engage in civic and civil conversations, we berate and insult those who disagree with us.

Jesus did not come to simply mess with people’s minds. He came to show us a different way. And for many, it did not make sense, it was confusing. The Gospel of John (6:65) even says that some of the early disciples left to return to their homes because what Jesus was preaching was simply too hard.

So yes, there will be division, there will be differences, there will be discomfort when we listen intently to what Jesus is saying to us. That’s the nature of conversion. All those assumptions we carry might well need to be re-examined. If you want to put all those assumptions back into place, that’s fine. But first Jesus is going to challenge us and make us look at our life and the world differently.