Gospel
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.”
Read this three times.
1) What word or phrase jumped out at you?
2) What is the meaning / message of this reading?
3) What does this reading challenge you to do today?
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4 comments:
mmkae i know i'm responding like eight hours after i went to Mass, but i didn't really have the chance to respond before. so...
1)set the earth on fire
2)that Jesus has come to our world to spread His message. ppl aren't going to like it and it's going to separate everyone based on what they choose to believe, basically by their religions. it used to be just the Jews and the Gentiles. now just within Christianity are a ridiculous amount of subdivisions. ppl could be really close but the things they believe in separate them. for example the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a huge divider. women as ministers. the seven sacraments are unique to Catholicism alone. ppl who are truly hyped about God according to their own religion are going to be separated from ppl who are hyped about a different religion or ppl who don't have religion at all.
3)it's kinda like the pink spiders song that says "We could paint this city red/ Or we could drown it out in gray". we need to set the world on fire by screaming out what we believe. we are going to be separated from ppl who don't believe what we do, but we know that we are being separated. we can't compromise our own beliefs because we are afraid of offending others.
sorry if that's confusing. i had a hard time putting it into words.
1) "division" - so often, we speak about unity in the Church, it's not often we hear about division in the body.
2) Jesus is commanding us to live boldly for him, no matter what others may think - not our friends, our family, anyone.
3) This reading challenges me to live a life that is a visible witness to Christ. Often, I want to look like everyone else - just to blend in. This reading calls me out of that complacency.
1) the word division
2) this really kind of took me off guard especially after reading the psalm and the second reading...where the Lord is on your side, and now in the Gospel we are being told that God already wished the world was "blazing" with division. Definately a very different idea - but one that is necessary to expose and encourage. I look at the division as being something positive, God is encouraging us to stand up for what we know is right even if that means putting us at odds with the people we love. To have that kind of innocent courage would be a blessing and often I pray to have this kind of grace. (thus leading me to my #3)
3) I think that this passage challenges us - not to create division or to create ideas to put us at odds with others, but what it is challenging us to do is really be ourselves...to know ourselves...to believe in ourselves like God does. Set the world on fire, not out of spite or opposition, but out of love for yourself and for God.
1 - anguish and division
2 - it's not going to be a bed of roses, but without it you are not complete
3 - choose a side. choose boldly. be active.
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alicia - good comment about division among Christians. I did not get where the spiders come in.
Michael - rarely have I seen you blend in
Ashley - interesting insight about believing in ourselves
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