Homily – October 22, 2009 – Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time - Thursday

+ This is a remarkable gospel passage. Jesus tells us that he did not come to earth for a tea party. He did not come to proclaim niceties where there really were none, he did not come to smooth over and assuage misguided notions, he did not come to tell everyone what a great job they were doing living life. If this was the why of his coming, then he never would have bothered coming at all– we would not have needed a Savior.

And so Jesus did not come to establish peace on the earth as an added bonus to what was already here. He did come in fact to cause a spiritual revolution that would be accomplished only by means of conflict and division. The fire that Jesus was so eager to have lit was that of the presence of the Holy Spirit who would burn away what was not of God and God's peace, and to replace it with what was of God and God's peace which was different than anything anyone could imagine.

In the first reading St. Paul tells the Romans to live the life of righteousness and freedom from sin (which included a life of supreme peace – real peace) because it is now available to them – because the baptism of Jesus had been accomplished (his death on the cross for our sins) and the anguish that went with it. But now it is our choice: do we want to participate in the life of redemption or not, do we want to live in the environs of peace or not, in the true familyhood of God, or not?

The choice may make us unpopular and at odds with other people – even members of our own families, as Jesus tells us in the gospel passage. But, how strong is our commitment to Jesus and the truth is the question we need to ask ourselves? When controversial political issues surface which challenge the faith, and attack God's authority directly, do we stand by the faith and God, or do we go the way of compromise and illogic?

Blessed are those who follow not the counsel of the wicked nor walk in the way of sinners, nor sit in the company of the insolent, but delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on his law day and night!