Gospel for October 22, 2009, Thursday
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. | 10/22/2009 12:00 AM
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29th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Rom 6:19–23
Gospel: Lk 12:49–53
Jesus said to his disciples, “I have come to bring fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled; but I have a baptism to undergo and what anguish I feel until it is over!
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house five will be divided; three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Commentary
Today, we hear another one of Christ’s hard sayings: “I have not come to bring peace, but rather division” So our task is to appreciate the division, which Christ has brought. We are instructed to see and learn from the way other people complement us; for since people are different from us by God’s design, then those differences are good and to be acknowledged, not eliminated. Nobody, not even the people God has put around us, is morally pure and thoroughly ethical; and neither are we!
The essence of most quarrels between people is that one person feels that another owes him or her something. It would be foolish, however, to try to repay someone when we actually didn’t owe them anything at all, just to keep them happy. Keeping others happy is not what God is about; therefore, it is not what we are about, either. Just as we are foolish, trying to keep others happy, so others take on a life of slavery, trying to keep the world happy with them. They try endlessly to live up to expectations, however well meaning, that the world places upon them. Reflecting back, is this how God wants us to live?
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