20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Sunday 14th August 2016)
Learn to love as Jesus calls us to – (Luke 12:49-53)
Jesus is the loving face of God. So we must ask why Jesus would cause division as the Gospel tells us. The answer is all to do with the baptism that Jesus refers to. This baptism is the Passion that Jesus must suffer for our salvation. In this Passion, in the Cross, we see what true love is. In the Cross we see that God, made man, suffered the most humiliating and painful death to atone for sin. The Cross shows that God loves you completely and personally.
The Cross of Jesus is the standard of the love that we are called to carry to our brothers and sisters in this world, this complete selfless love that loves the other person just as they are in this moment. Because of our tendency to sin and our brokenness, this love does not come easy to us, which is why prayer is so important because if we are to love as God calls us to, we need to spend time with Him. Let Jesus be our teacher in the quietness of our hearts when we spend time with him. Let Him teach us to love.
Why does this love cause division? Because the world we love in very often goes by the code of selfish love rather than selfless love. If we study the fruits of both and when we look at our world today, it is clear that selfishness leads to sin, misery and brokenness. Whereas look at someone like Blessed Mother Teresa who lived a life of selfless love. Look at her radiant smile, her joy and how she made the world a better place. Selfless love is not always easy. There will be divisions as Jesus says, but it is this authentic love of God put into practice daily that allows us to become the person God created us to be. Let us spend time with Jesus today and learn to love as He calls us to.
Fr. Jaimie Twohig, S.A.C.