THURSDAY OCTOBER 26, 2023
THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY NINTH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME A
Romans 6:19-23
Luke 12:49-53
DEEP AND RADICAL TRANSFORMATION
The use of fire by our Lord to describe the actions that will engage his followers is very instructive. That he has come to set fire on the earth. And this fire will bring about upsetting and dividing the people, sifting the good out of the evil, and creating enmity between persons.
It means that the message and life of a Christian challenges the status quo. It bubbles the earth and shakes the world. It’s main purpose is to purify, sanctify, reorder and sift out the good from the bunch of bad. The challenging message and life of a converted Christian with the new ideals, new lifestyle, and the zealous way in which one is eager for the transformation and evolving of the new life is what Jesus describes as the fire set and blazing.
Indeed, every Christian must aspire for greater values, love with no conditions, peace that is unequalled, righteousness that the world cannot fathom, holiness that pleases God and faith that leaps in the dark. The Christian life must be akin to someone that is more or less hypnotized. it is a hypnosis, an opium as some will see it.
Jesus however notes that such life is not contented with the barest minimum, a mediocre faith journey, like going to mass daily, saying the rosary occasionally, trying to keep up with keeping the commandments as much as one is able, giving in charity from ones surplus and being just zealous for the eye to see and recognized. And this is what many of us are doing.
Jesus says that our conversion as Christians and life as his people must be deep and radically different from the normal. It must create a difference. We must be morally upright above normal and human expectation. Our zeal for the life must be questionable because it will show total commitment to the life, ideals and teachings of Christ. Our involvement in the work of evangelization must be sincere, radical, urgent and interesting.
Only by so doing can we be able to overcome the obstacles of sinful inclinations which must be eschewed from our lives and living. And eyebrows must be raised against us for our belief and lifestyle to the extent that we are sometimes suspected to be out of our minds, irrational and different from the yearnings and aspirations of the world.
And this is what Saint Paul admonishes us today in the first reading. He says that we must yield ourselves to righteousness and sanctification. And we must purify our hearts and minds from sins and impurities to be able to rise above human limitations. And he gives us the reason for this teaching, so that we may evade the wages of sin which is death and be filled with the free gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Our complacency in the spiritual life and Christian life must be raised above the bar of human expectation. We must try to rise and set for ourselves the goal of looking beyond the human to the divine expectation as Jesus want it.
Heavenly Father, grant us a deeper insight into the life we are called to live. Give us your spirit to become ever zealous, committed and dedicated to you in all we do. Grant us hunger for you and your ways. Bless us with the gift of faith above human expectation to propel and fire us into greater commitment and love. Bless us today and everyday with good health, peace of mind, progress in all we do and happiness that has no end through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
