Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 63:1-9 Community Rank
Mass: Jer 38:4-6, 8-10; Resp Ps 40; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53

Lord, come to my aid!

HEART OF JESUS, GLOWING FURNACE OF CHARITY,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's offering comes from a variety of voices. In our first reading, St Paul encourages us to "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 … Consider how Jesus endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart." From Cardinal Basil Hume, Hope from the Cross: Reflections on Jesus' Seven Last Words:

Obedient to his Father's will,

he has accomplished

the work that he was given.

To take our pain

and death as well-

upon himself.

Death, the wages of sin

borne by him,

ever pure and sinless.

He had become man 

to endure the pain

known by many

in wars, famine,

earthquakes too.

In the soul as well-

mental anguish,

adversity,

loss of reason.

You know suffering?

So did he.

Have you felt abandoned?

And abandoned by God too?

So did he.

You have been 

misunderstood,

vilified?

So was he.

He, too, walked in the dark,

entered the tomb

lifeless and defeated,

vanquished.

Death could not win.

His body would not be imprisoned.

He rose again,

victorious over death

and over sin.

He has made all things new.

It is finished.

The work is done.

There will still be 

suffering,

earthquakes,

wars and famine,

mental anguish, anxiety, loss of reason,

still part of human living,

but different now.

He has hidden in human pain

the seed of divine life.

Hope is now hidden in human despair,

joy concealed in human sadness.

Anguish, anxiety,

the ravages of war,

famines, earthquakes

hide within themselves

a rich reward,

a precious treasure-

life hidden with Christ in God

for the sharers in his passion.

From Erasmo Levia-Merikakis in Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word:

There is no question of Jesus magically and instaneously making all things well simply by coming into the world; rather, the peace he gives begins to blossom only on the far side of the cross.

For the Gospel and Jesus' words, I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!, I include our Vigils reading, from Hans Urs von Balthasar, Light of the Word: Brief Reflections on the Sunday Readings):

The fire that Jesus has come to cast upon the earth is the fire of divine love that will ignite humanity. It will begin to burn from the Cross, which is the baptism he fears. But by no means will all people permit themselves to be set ablaze by the unconditionality of this fire. Because some will resist the very love that could and would lead people to unity, humanity will be divided. More clearly and inexorably than before Christ, humanity will divide itself into two kingdoms or states. Augustine called them the "city of God", where love rules, and the "city of this world", where cupidity rules. Jesus reveals that the division severs even the closes family ties, while St Paul depicts this division as splitting apart even the individual heart, where the flesh fights against the spirit and "wretched persons" "do not do what they want but do what they fundamentally loathe". Yet neither for Jesus or for Paul is this a fatalistic tragedy. Instead, it is a fight that will be fought all the way to victory. Love and hate are not two co-eternal principles, rather, we "conquer evil through good". It is to this end that God has granted us the power of his grace.

And from the Holy Father:

In today's Gospel, Jesus reveals to us His most ardent desire; to bring to the earth the fire of the Father's love: the fire that saves, that changes the world, starting from the change of each one's heart.
(Pope Francis Twitter, August 18, 2019)

HEART OF JESUS, KING AND CENTER OF ALL HEARTS,
PRAY FOR US.