I Come To Bring Fire On The Earth

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.” Lk 12:49-53 

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Fire of New Life

While we may think of fire as a feared and destructive force, nature sees it quite differently. For instance, forests need fire to keep them healthy and to promote new growth. Even as the raging flames engulf the trees, the searing heat causes the tree cones to irrupt, spilling out on to the ground their seeds, which have been waiting their release to begin the rebirth of a new forest. Every 50 to 100 years forests need this cleansing to invigorate new growth. 



Fire is also a violent and uncompromising force. When it begins its work of purging the forest of all that is dead and decaying, no longer fruitful, only suffocating life, nothing can stop it until the heavens open up with a baptism of life-giving rains for new birth.

We live in a culture that tells us that it does not matter what you believe, as long as we all get along. The search for truth is supplanted by the politics of compromise; truth is relative. It is here, with this way of thinking, that Jesus and the message of the gospels collide. When Jesus entered the temple and saw how greed and profit had  corrupted its sacred purpose, he was inflame with zeal  to purify God's house, restoring it to a house of prayer.

Each one of us is a "house of prayer", into which we invite the Lord to come. But when he comes, it will not be to pacify our desires with a false sense of peace. Rather, it will be to purify our hearts with truth, and to "en kindle in them the fire of His Love."  So often this leaves us bewildered, struggling to understand; confusing the fire of purification with the fire of wrath. Only when we have undergone such a purification will we be ready to become, the New Evangelists.

This Grace I Seek:

• Lord, remove from my heart those desires that are opposed to your perfect will for my life. En kindle in me the fire of your love and zeal for the coming of your Kingdom.

Examine for an Evangelist:

• Are there areas of my life I exclude from my prayer?
• Does fear of confrontation prevent me from challenging wrong doing?
• Am I open to sharing my faith with others?
• Am I reluctant to identify myself as a faithful, practicing believer in Christ 
• Do I speak up when my faith is disparaged? 
• What concrete steps have I planned to deepen my personal knowledge of my faith and prepare myself to challenge those who attack the faith of the Church?

 Jesus, fill my heart with the fire of
 love which burns in your most
Sacred Heart

Brothers and sisters:

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.

For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. Heb 12:1-4