20th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
August
14, 2016
Luke
12:49-53
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already
blazing! (Luk 12:49)”
In
the midst of all super-advanced digital gadgets and nano technologies, making
fire seems rather archaic and a bit useless. Why will we set a fire and cause
pollution, if we have energy-saving LED lamp in our house? However, making fire
is the earliest and one of the most significant human invention. Fire revolutionized
the lives of our ancestors and gave us substantial advantages over other
creatures. Fire brings warm and comfort in chilling and unforgiving weathers.
Fire protects us from bigger and fiercer predators. Fire provides light that
shed off the darkness. Fire also is needed to forge other inventions and
technologies, like various tools and weapons.
Yet,
fire also may cause us serious headaches. Almost every year, fire sets ablaze
parts of Borneo rain forest and emits global-scale smoke. Fire also is a serious
problem in densely populated cities like Manila. A firefighter once conducted a
seminar in our seminary. He said that it just takes less than one minute for
fire to burn an entire body of a little kid. Thus, fire has become the symbol
of both powerful force of nature and human ingenuity. It may bring heavy
destructions as fire burns and consumes almost everything. Yet, it also gives creativity,
hope and future to humanity.
When
Jesus said he brought fire to the world, Luke used the Greek word ‘phur’,
meaning ‘wild fire’. Now, we may understand that Jesus came to the world to
bring not a warming and delightful fire, but massive transformative energy and
power. This fire can consume our past and wicked ways. Yet, more importantly,
this fire energizes and empowers us to be creative in our preaching and in
Christian life. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came into the form of
tongues of fire. This same fire emboldened the fearful disciples in the Upper
room and moved them to preach the Good News with freshness. They made a
creative breakthrough as they began to speak in the different languages of
their hearers.
Saints
are people who are blazed by Christ’ fire. Their lives exemplify the ever-fresh
and transformative Spirit. When St. Dominic de Guzman saw the need to preach
the Gospel to bring back the Albigensian heretics in Southern France, he
established the first preaching religious Order in the Church. When the first
Spanish Missionaries came to the Philippine Islands, one of their main
preoccupations was how to understand the local languages and cultures, so that
their preaching may be easily understood by the native Filipinos. As early as
the 16th century, the Dominican friars had produced grammar books and
dictionaries of Philippine languages like Tagalog, Bisaya, and Ivatan.
It
is His desire to set the world in fire, but has the fire of Christ touched our
lives? Have the Eucharist and Sacrament of reconciliation renewed us? Do we
feel that energy to engage in the proclamation of the Good News, or we are just
fine with Sunday masses? Do we have the perseverance amidst trials of life? Do
we allow the Spirit to animate our lives?
Br.
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
No comments:
Post a Comment