Romans 6:19 – 23 /Psalm 1:1 – 2,3-4 /Luke 12:49 – 53

The Gospel passage today, gives us an insight into the distress that Jesus experienced within himself in the course of his ministry. He speaks of bringing fire to the earth. The ‘fire’ is a reference to the fire of the Holy Spirit. He says before this, he must first undergo what he refers to in the gospel reading as a baptism. This is a reference to his death, when he will be plunged into great suffering.

Then again, the Lord points out to His disciples and followers, how His coming into this world would not usher an era of peace, harmony and glory for the people, but instead, it would lead to division and disagreements, disunity and resistance, as there would be those who refused to believe in God and His truth, and those who would likely oppose the ones who have embraced the Lord and His truth as revealed through Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Beloved, it is therefore not surprising that throughout the history of the Church and our Christian faith, many of our predecessors have faced multiple challenges, trials and difficulties because they remained firmly faithful to the Lord, and chose to follow the Lord and trust in Him rather than to obey and conform to the worldly norms and paths.

 Brethren, it is very obvious that some chose to abandon God’s path and conform to the path of worldliness may be to save themselves or all in the name of human rights, but the hope is that many too have remained true to their faith in God, therefore are faced with persecution, oppression and opposition from in fact within their own families and friends.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, for all of us, what truly matters is that we need to be prepared to stand up for our faith, and to be true to our calling and mission as Christians. Following the Lord and walking in his way will often mean saying ‘no’ to what people want from us. Faithfulness can be costly. Yet, because of the Lord’s own faithfulness unto death, his Spirit has been poured into our hearts. The fire of that Spirit at work in our lives helps to keep us faithful and courageous in our following of the Lord.

St. Paul refers to the Holy Spirit there as God’s power working in us that can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. Cf. Eph. 3:20. What we cannot do on our own, we can do in the power of the Spirit that has been given to us at such a cost by Jesus.

Friends each and every one of us should always remind ourselves and one another that we are all as members of God’s Church, as parts of His one united Body, we must always stand together, and be filled with the fullness of God’s grace, love and truth. We should always strive to be exemplary and inspirational in how we live our lives, in our every word, action, deed, help us to strive to glorify God, so as to be genuine and faithful Christians. For the love that God pours into our hearts through the Spirit is the self-emptying love revealed by Jesus on the cross.

So, may the Holy Spirit that is at work in our lives always inspire us and empower us to love in the same self-giving and self-emptying way that Jesus loved. May the Lord God continue to strengthen and empower us all to be strong and courageous in living our lives according to the path that God has shown us.

ROSARY PRAYERS: Luminous Mysteries