The founder of my religious congregation, Father Thomas Judge, CM, loved the saying of Jesus:”I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” A icon depicts him with his hand outstretched holding a flame. The words of Jesus captured for Fr. Judge, the urgency he felt to spread the gospel into a world which so desperately needs it. Farther along in the passage Jesus says, From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. He warns that his message would challenge even family relationships. This brought to mind the current political situation in our country where the partisan divide concerning the former president is almost a demonic mirror image. Certain families have stopped speaking to each other because some are “true believers” and others are not. The division that Jesus talks about is of a different caliber. The faithful strive to live a life of charity, generosity, forgiveness, compassion. This can threaten the comfortable existence that others have embraced and so they separate themselves to avoid the challenge that following Jesus entails. However, since we are made for God, believers trust that continuing to live a Godly life will, in the end, prove so attractive that those who are separate will join in celebrating God’s good news.
