It pretty much goes without saying that our world today is a decidedly unhappy and unsettled place. Conflicts and violence, disagreements and disrespect, partisanship and othering seem to dominate the public square. So it’s a good thing we can come to Mass to hear a word of comfort in our readings. Love your neighbor, maybe something about lambs or a dove… Um, yeah, maybe not with today’s readings.
We hear about Jeremiah being cast into a well to die. St. Paul talks of resisting to the point of shedding blood. And Jesus himself talks of setting fire to the world and sowing division, even within families. Not particularly comforting messages at first glance. But if we really consider the message of the readings, we can find that they actually do point toward peace in the long run, the peace that comes from listening to God’s word and embracing his will that we be united with him.
In the first reading, Jerusalem is under siege by the Babylonians, which God had warned them would happen if they stuck to their wicked and prideful ways. We hear that the princes complain to the king that “Jeremiah ought to be put to death; he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such things to them.” And what were these “such things” he was speaking to them?
Jeremiah was trying to get them to listen to God’s message that if they humbled themselves and surrendered, their lives and the city would be spared, but if they resisted, the city would be burned and they would be killed. It was speaking this message of God’s that got Jeremiah into trouble — again –and got him lowered into the mud of the cistern.
Throughout his time as a prophet, Jeremiah was told “Stop saying all those things and we’ll leave you alone.” If Jeremiah bit his tongue and the authorities stopped harassing and beating him all the time, you might expect he could find some measure of peace.
But there’s a difference between true peace and the mere absence of persecution. Jeremiah found that out firsthand when he tried once to silence himself after one of his run-ins with the powers that be, and it didn’t leave him feeling peaceful. At that time, Jeremiah said:
The word of the LORD has brought me reproach and derision all day long. I say I will not mention Him, I will no longer speak in his name. But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding back, I cannot!
Keeping silent and not proclaiming God’s truth wasn’t an option for Jeremiah, but listening to and acting on God’s word was an option for the people of Jerusalem. But the word of God Jeremiah tried to get across to them didn’t line up with their own designs, so they continued to ignore him.
That’s the thing about truth, though – just because you don’t listen doesn’t mean it’s not true. Jerusalem was soon overrun and destroyed by the Babylonians, and the people who weren’t killed were carried off into captivity, just as the Lord had warned.
The fire burning in Jeremiah’s heart and imprisoned in his bones is the fire that Jesus says he wants to set ablaze on the earth. It is the fire of the Word of God. Jesus knows he has to pass through his passion and death to arrive at his Resurrection. There is no Easter without Good Friday.
And Jesus knows that only after his Resurrection and Ascension will the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, come down on the apostles and remind them of all Jesus taught and set them ablaze and empower them to follow his command to go forth and make disciples of all the nations. And Jesus is eager for all that to happen.
After the Holy Spirit came down on Pentecost, the apostles traveled across the world to share the Gospel, making new disciples and setting them alight with the flame of God’s word. In turn, those new disciples would go out and do the same. The spreading of God’s word has continued up to this very day in the same way. We live our faith and come to Mass because somebody who was a disciple made a disciple out of us.
The challenge for each of us, then, is what are we doing with the flame we’ve been given? Are we content to let it burn almost unnoticed, like the pilot light on a gas stove? Yes, the flame is there, but its presence really becomes known only when it’s fed with fuel and blazes up.
So the challenge before us is a matter of whether or not we seek out sources of fuel to feed our flame. We come to Mass, and that’s huge. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, with Christ feeding us through his Word and his Body and Blood, is the most excellent source of fuel we could ever hope for. But are we fully and actively participating in the Mass to make the most of this opportunity to feed our flame?
After Mass, we can keep the flame burning throughout the week through prayer. How’s our prayer life? Is it an important part of our day, something we carve out time for, or is it more something we fit in when we remember or we need something? Prayer plays a huge role in keeping our flame going, especially when we’re surrounded by so many demands and distractions in our modern world. St. Francis de Sales once said, “Every one of us needs half an hour of prayer a day, except when we are busy – then we need an hour.”
We keep the flame going by reading and reflecting on scripture using the Bible or the Liturgy of the Hours or spiritual reading. There are even scripture podcasts we can listen to on our commute or on a walk.
There’s actually lots of good Catholic podcasts available that run the gamut from lighthearted to seriously educational. Our parishes have men’s groups and women’s groups and prayer groups and opportunities for Eucharistic adoration. The list goes on — there is no shortage of fuel to feed the flame the flame in our heart if we choose.
My point is something that I try to keep in mind each day, and that’s when we try to actively and consciously to feed the flame instead of letting it get tamped down by the noise and worries of the world around us, those flames are naturally going to spread. It makes me think of one of my favorite nights of the year, the Easter vigil, when the church is completely dark until the Paschal candle comes in and its flame is shared from one person to the next until the entire church is aglow with the light of the candles held by each person in it.
Jesus knows that it won’t always be easy for us to hold his light up in this world. Those who share God’s message will face opposition, just as Jeremiah did. Jesus knows that his Word will challenge many and be a source of conflict even within the same household.
Peace as the world accounts it is usually merely the absence of conflict, and too often as Catholic Christians today we seek to avoid conflict by softening or even remaining silent about the truth. Not making waves. We know from experience that there are people out there who will claim that anyone who dares to challenge our society’s pervasive and absolute narrative of relativism is being bigoted or hateful.
But Jesus doesn’t want the easy and empty peace that comes from giving up our principles and keeping silent about the truth. That’s why he says he has come instead to bring division – he wants us to be witnesses to the truth. If we who have heard the truth don’t speak up, don’t share it, who will? It’s not someone else’s job – it’s your job and my job by virtue of our Baptism, when we were joined to Jesus and his mission as priest, prophet, and king.
St. Paul today reminds us that Jesus endured much opposition from sinners and urges us to keep that in mind so we don’t grow weary and lose heart: “For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.”
The joy that lay before Jesus is the joy that awaits each of us. If we ask in faith for God to give us the strength to endure the crosses we face each day, he will surely give us everything we need and more. God made us to live with him in eternal life. That is his will for every one of us. And we can trust always that if we are a faithful witness to him in this life, we will live with him eternally in the next.
Image: Photo by Max Kukurudziak on Unsplash.
Deacon Steve O’Neill was ordained for service to the Archdiocese of Washington in June 2013 and serves at St. Andrew Apostle in suburban Maryland. After four years in the Marine Corps and three years at the University of Maryland (where met Traci, now his wife of 30+ years, and earned a degree in English), he has worked as an analyst with the Federal government. Deacon Steve and Traci have two sons and two daughters and three grandchildren.
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