October 26, Thursday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Readings: First reading: Romans 6:19–23; Gospel: Luke 12:49–53.
The Gospel of today somehow evokes the Easter fire and Pentecost. Easter night has one of the most beautiful liturgies in Christianity. With a great variety of symbols filled with meanings, one of those symbols is the fire at the beginning of the celebration. A fire that symbolizes God’s glory, God’s presence among us, purifying us, and giving us new life.
We reflected on the Gospel yesterday about how the Master despises oppression and violence, and today the Gospel gives us a fiery representation of the task that his Father has given him. Fire can be violent and destructive; it can even cause death. However, without fire, we would not be able to survive. We use it every day to prepare our meals, to warm ourselves when it is cold, to mold iron to build our houses and devices, and the list goes on. Fire is also used to purify and test the purity of precious metals.
Jesus says he came to the earth to bring fire, not peace. We might feel confused by this statement. We need to recall other Scripture passages that would help us understand this affirmation better. We find He is called our peace (Ephesians 2:14) and Lord of peace (2 Thessalonians 3:16), and after the resurrection, we contemplate Jesus offering peace to his disciples (John 14:27). But then, we also experienced how conflictive it could be to remain faithful to the values of the gospel, to the point that it has been a cause of death for many.
In that sense, the Gospel is subversive and revolutionary because it questions the motives of our actions and the sincerity of our lifestyle. The division caused by the Gospel message comes from the contrast of its wisdom with the lack of justice and peace already present in our world. Its fire tests the most hidden intentions of our hearts.
We are invited to allow the fire of the Gospel to penetrate our interior, purify us, awaken in us the desire for God, and make us missionaries able to set the world ablaze with the fire of God’s love, peace, and compassion.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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