Weekly HOMILY for August 19, 2007: Fire, Baptism, and Division

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Our Lady of Grace
August 19, 2007

Focus: Jesus brings division
Function: To have the hearer reassert his/her identity as a Catholic

Fire, Baptism, and Division
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


Youth and the Gospel

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with a number of our youth.

These are high school age teenagers and they are attending a variety of schools, both public and Catholic. One of my learnings from these conversations is the challenge our youth are facing today.

They have the opportunity to experiment with drugs – with smoking pot and trying other more dangerous selections. They have the opportunity to drink beer and other alcoholic beverages. And they have the temptation to engage in sexual activity.

It is also clear to me that so many of our youth are very good persons. They have a good sense of right and wrong. They do have a conscience.

And, I might quickly add, I believe that their religious formation is crucial, absolutely crucial, in forming their conscience, which will shape them as persons.

But even with a well-formed conscience and strong moral fiber, it can still be very difficult and challenging for them to make good choices when the “group think” or “cool thing” is constantly before their eyes.


Fire, Baptism and Division

This, my friends, is precisely what today’s Gospel addresses.

Jesus speaks of three things: fire, baptism and division.

Fire is a Scriptural image for judgment or decision.

Jesus is saying that he and the values he stands for lead us to having to make decisions everyday. In our daily lives we repeatedly must decide to do what it right or wrong, to make a choice for him or against him.

Then Jesus talks about a baptism. Here he is not talking about being baptized with water.

Rather, the word refers to being immersed in something, and Jesus is talking about being immersed in suffering. The idea is that our choices will not always be easy, and our choices will sometimes entail a degree of discomfort and suffering.

And finally, Jesus talks in the Gospel about division. The point he is making is that sometimes our choices will separate us from others we are close to.

Jesus heightens the tension by talking about division in our families and that may happen, but more than likely it will a division from our peers or from society in general.

So, “fire or decision,” “baptism or suffering,” and “division or separation” – Jesus tells us that following him, espousing his values, may well challenge us in these ways.


The Church and the Gospel

We can see this getting played out for our youth as I mentioned when I began, and we can also see this on the level of our Church and our society.

Our Church, the Catholic Church, teaches a consistent ethic of life – a consistent ethic of life.

We believe that human life is a gift from God. It is sacred and we are to treat it as such. We are not to injure or destroy human life.

Thus, true to its “consistent ethic” the Church teaches against embryonic stem cell research. Other stem cell research of course is fine and should be supported.

It holds hope for dealing with some terrible afflictions, like spinal cord injuries or Parkinson’s disease. But, the Church says, embryonic stem cell research involves the killing of a living embryo and that is simply wrong.

The embryo is the beginning of human life and we cannot take this life. The end – medical breakthroughs – does not justify the means – the taking of human life.

Today, our Church teaches against the death penalty. The position is that we do not teach respect for human life by taking the life even of a person who has committed a serious crime.

There are other ways of protecting society and the common good. Even here, a consistent ethic of life.

And, over the centuries, our Church has developed a careful position on war and what justifies war. The Church knows that warfare always involves the taking of life and so we have to be careful when and how to engage in war.

On this basis, Pope John Paul urged our country not to go to war in Iraq. Again, the consistent ethic of life at work once again.

Conclusion

So, fire: decisions, choices that our youth, that we as adults or that we as a society have to make about following the way of the Lord.

Baptism: immersion in a bath of suffering that can follow from our choices; and division: standing apart, distance, separation from those around us because of these choices.

That is the kind of in-your-face, challenging message that the Lord Jesus gives us today.