Thursday – 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 12:49-53

Peace Be With You

A Quiet Walk, Maryland

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.

Today’s Gospel is a tough one to read, much less understand.  We think back on all the times Jesus tells His disciples – Peace Be With You!  Today is the complete opposite!  I bring division and fire, pitting one family member against another!  And yet, doesn’t the world seem to be just that – on fire?  War in Ukraine, starvation and death and a very tentative ceasefire in Gaza, constant fear of being dragged away in handcuffs and separated from family and home, millions around the world marching in protest! And that doesn’t even include the turmoil in our hearts and in our lives.  Debilitating illness and relationships torn apart by violence within!  Families struggling to manage the budget in the midst of rising grocery, energy and medical costs!    Peace Be With You? Really?

We have all been baptized into the family of God, into a community of love and fellowship.  But we live in a world that seems to value something completely different: selfishness, greed, envy, hatred, and the list goes on and on.  Is it any wonder then that we will meet resistance, push-back and outright division as we seek to practice our Christian faith.

Maybe instead of ‘looking’ for peace elsewhere, we should start by being ministers of peace; maybe peace starts within, in our hearts and in our actions! Peace Be With You!  Indeed!!

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