Does anyone want their family divided? Who wants the members of their family falling out with one
another, not speaking, saying hurtful things? It is a sad thing to see and I have seen it. I have seen funerals here in Cork where
one part of the family sat at one end of the front seats and the other part at
the other end. I have seen
funerals where some members of a family stood at the back of the church or did not
even show up for their own Mother’s funeral! I know of families where members have not spoken in
years. The pain that such
conflicts inflict is immeasurable.
We should make every effort to forgive and be reconciled. But that is not the topic of my sermon.
Our Lord says He has come to divide. He says that the fire He will send upon the Earth through
His baptism will bring this division, this conflict. Is not the Lord the Lord of Peace and Love, Mercy and
Forgiveness? How can He talk of
conflict and division? Are we not supposed to be kind and merciful to one another,
tolerate one another and be nice?
Actually I have come to hate that last word ‘nice’! Originally the
word ‘nice’ meant ignorant and later it meant ‘stupid’. Nowhere in the Gospels are we called to
be ignorant or stupid or even ‘nice’ in the modern sense of the word. We are called to stand up for Christ
and the Truth. We are called not
to be afraid but to be willing to risk everything for Him and His Kingdom.
This Fire that our Lord speaks about is above all the Fire of the
Holy Spirit which through His Baptism, His passion, death and resurrection is
now cast upon the world in the form of the Church. In receiving Baptism and Confirmation we are immersed in
that Fire so that it dwells in our souls and we are commanded to spread
it. Why does He call it Fire? Fire burns, of course, it
consumes. This Fire from Heaven consumes
evil and sin, purifying humanity and the world. Fire brings about change and
the Fire of the Spirit empower us to confront and overcome evil and to do good. Fire warms and, if we let it, the Fire
of Christ warms our hearts with Divine Love, enlivening us and giving us zeal
for good and for the Gospel. Fire
gives light and the Fire of Christ gives light to the world, showing us the
Truth and driving out error, so that we do not remain ignorant or stupid. Fire is a symbol of love and the
greatest love is the Love of God.
God wants to soak the world in His Love for us and restore us not just
to what we were before the Fall but to lift us up into the very Heart of the
Most Holy Trinity. He wants to
place us in the very heart of the furnace of Divine Love.
But we must choose. God
has too much love for us to force His love upon us. We must choose and choose in the Truth, choose the Gospel of
Christ. Choice divides. Every position is a choice and so it is
divisive. This division exists
first of all in our own hearts. We
are divided within ourselves because we are fallen and are uncertain about the
right path to follow. We can only
be whole by letting Christ fuse us with Himself. Only in union with Christ can we know real peace and
happiness and the right way to go.
This division runs from our hearts and out through the world. So it is no surprise that modern
secular society struggles with the question of Truth and of right and
wrong. They have a home in their
society for everyone but Christ and those who side with Him.
Choosing therefore also demands rejecting and being rejected. If we choose Christ then we choose His
Church, His Truth, His Authority and we reject that of the world, of
immorality, false freedom and ignorance.
To choose Christ is to choose Eternal Life but it is also to choose to
suffer rejection and conflict in this life. That conflict is firstly in our own hearts as we
struggle to keep to the Truth but it is also in our families and homes. There will be members of our families
who will not choose Christ, who will resist or who will even side with the
world. I know how painful this is.
Here I made reference to family situations that I will not
put on the Internet! That’s
not the way my parent’s and their generation brought us up. What are we to do?
Long ago a monk living in the desert of Egypt went to his abbot and
asked him how he could make progress.
The abbot told him to live their rule of life and pray continually doing
all and enduring all for the love of God.
The monk said he did all this.
Then the abbot stood up and his hands became like flames. He said to the monk “Then become all
fire.” The answer then is
‘Fire’! Become afire for God by doing
everything and enduring everything for the love of God. Fan into a flame the faith God has
given you! When you are ablaze for
Christ others will catch fire from you and the blaze will spread. The faith is dying in Ireland because
of lukewarm Christians and our Lord has promised to spit them out of His mouth. Fan this flame of faith and protect it
from the icy winds of our present time.
Feed it and make it grow, brighter, hotter, stronger. If we take our faith seriously and put
it into practice it we will not be lukewarm but on flame for Him and we will
bring others to the faith. This
fire will demand that we allow it to purify us not just of all that is sinful
and wrong in our lives but even what is unnecessary too. If we would love God as He wishes to be
loved, as He deserves to be loved, then we must let go of any love that is
incompatible with that love. In
return we have been promised that if even one person in a family practices
their faith wholeheartedly and trusts in our Lord and His Blessed Mother then
the rest will be saved. As one
Russian saint said “Become a saint and you will save a thousand souls.”
How do we do this? First, pray! Here I recommend the book “The Practice of the Presence of
God”, it’s short, easy to read and costs less than €5 on Book Depository. Secondly know your Faith, read a piece
of the Catechism each day or use EWTN or other sources on the net to get to
know your Faith better. Thirdly
put it into practice especially by charity to the poor which covers a multitude
of sins. Fourthly attend the
Sacraments especially Confession.
Examine your conscience daily and go to Confession regularly. Fifthly do the duties of your state of
life, avoiding evil and doing good, enduring what comes your way for the love
of God. This is the way to become
a saint, on fire for God.
We cannot sit on the fence if we are followers of Christ. We cannot run with hares and hunt with
the hounds. The price of Eternal
Life with God is total commitment to Him in this world according to our state
of life. We cannot remain ignorant
, still less must we be stupid. We
must face up to this battle, this war within ourselves, our families and our
society and enflamed with the Love of Christ set our world on fire with love for
Him. Be on fire with love for
Christ and others will catch fire from you.
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