REFLECTIONS TODAY
Fire is used in Scriptures to symbolize God’s judgment where the just are purified and the evil ones destroyed (Mal 3:2-5).
As metal is refined of dross by fire, so people are tested as genuine by life’s ordeals.
Here, Jesus states that the purpose of his coming is to test the hearts of men and women, to separate the good from the evil.
Christ becomes a “sign of contradiction,” that is, people are divided over him — whether they are for him or against him. He cannot be ignored; one cannot remain neutral; one must take a stand.
Since the world has values contrary to Christ’s, division results between those who accept Christ and those who reject him.
His good news is bad news for those who refuse him. Christ can stand for “fire” itself.
As fire, he burns, cleanses, and purifies so that the person may appear in his genuineness.
He is also fire that enkindles the world with love: love for God and for human beings.
We ask ourselves if our faith is like fire that burns away the dross of wickedness in our aspirations and plans.
If our faith is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, may the Lord inflame our hearts with the desire to proclaim his Gospel.
First Reading • Rom 6:19-23
Brothers and sisters: I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed?
For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gospel • Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.