So we too are called…To do what you say? - To set the world on fire!

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of St Luke, Jesus say something that is rather disturbing…..”Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division”…..What does that say to me? - And to YOU? - Jesus is NOT interested in the lukewarm…As we know he tells us that point blank in the Scripture - But today’s message confirms it - Jesus means business!!! - How about us?….For those of us who are purveyors of the Truth - We know that the Truth divides…Its not for the faint of heart - For those who want to “go along to get along” - To live comfortable lives….The Truth spoken, even more shocking, the Truth lived out is frankly SHOCKING to society….Radically caring for the poor - Having many children on a modest income - Renouncing a comfortable life for a life of hardships at the service of others and the Church….When the world witnesses such a person - The world gets a glimpse of Christ - And to many - Such a sight is threatening and in some cases - And history shows us - People like that are eliminated….WHY? - Because the only real threat to the powerful of this world is the Truth radically displayed with reckless abandon…And this is the task of the Church….Not to “go along to get along” - And I will be perfectly honest…Lukewarm Catholicism nauseates me!…..It is good for nothing and the secular world - Just so you know mocks it…..For me - Its all of nothing!….These are the people I try to find within the Church….And these are the people, who as we hear Jesus say today in the Gospel - “Will set the world on fire”….To be like this - More importantly - To live like this…We must radically surrender - We must also have radical trust…What stops us from this mindset?….Two things - Fear and Doubt….We fear that God will not provide for us - We also doubt in the promises of Christ…..Only Sacramental Grace, weekly fasting and daily prayer can open us up to face our doubts and fears - Unlike the powerful of this world, who rely on raw cunning and intelligence - A Catholic must rely in grace alone - And as St Paul tells us….“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness”…The problem is - We do not believe this - So we “hedge our bets”…..We are not convinced that God can do more with our life then we can - We are not convinced, even after we read about the lives of the saints, many of which were simple men and women, who did exactly what Jesus spoke about today in the Gospel - Radically surrendered to the Truth…What will convince us? - What will convert us?…..The answer - Grace!

“I consider all things so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him”

Before I was married, while working with the Missionaries of Charity, in India, Haiti, San Francisco & New York…..I realized as a man who lived “many lives” - Who has seen many places and people - Both the very rich and the poor….I had never met anyone like Mother Teresa's nuns….NO ONE even came close…Their lives were radical - Their surrender to Christ was total….And because of this - They bore fruit for the Kingdom of God…I knew this is the only way….This is how its done - This is what Christ did and each Catholic must do - In our own vocations, no matter what that vocation was - Priest - Married - Single….This is the narrow road to heaven….One day while serving in the convent in New York City, Sister Antonia MC told me story about one of the sisters she knew, who came from a wealthy French family…She was the only child of a rich couple and felt that she had a religious vocation…She told her parents at the age of sixteen...…”In two years I am going to leave you - You should adapt other children”…And true to her word - That is exactly what she did - She enter the Missionaries of Charity…Who does that????!!! - At the age of sixteen no less!!!….How can someone so young KNOW with such certainty, to give up their life like that so radically!!!….This example personifies what Jesus speaks about today in the Gospel….”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”…A life radically lived for Christ divides - It shocks people!!!!…But all the while - “It sets the world on fire!”…Each of us - The baptized of the world - We were not born to live mediocre lives - The seed of Baptism was placed in our soul - A “mark” that cannot be erased….So we too are called…To do what you say? - To set the world on fire!…….JMJ

“Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever”