- First Reading: Eph 3:14–21
- Responsorial Psalm: Ps 33:1–2, 4–5, 11–12, 18–19
- Gospel: Luke 12:49–53
The Lord says he has come to set the earth on fire. He has come to bring about change in the world through the fire of the Holy Spirit, who should be remaking the world. As Christians, we should have some influence on the world, bringing about the changes Christ asks of us.
And yet, in day-to-day life, it often seems that the world has more influence on us. Think about your own speech throughout the day. Are you more likely to quote a politician, a commentator on the news, someone from the secular world, or Christ himself?
I think for most of us, it is the former. Those are the voices we hear. I know that is what I hear around here. No matter what happens, people want to bring up those points.
Almost ten years ago—it wasn’t here—I gave a homily about the corrupting influence of money and power and how we have to avoid that in our lives. It was during the Clinton–Trump election, but I wasn’t preaching about the election. Afterward, one group came up to me and said, “Oh, Father, that was so great. You really gave it to those Clinton supporters.” Then a different group said, “Father, that was wonderful. I hope all those Trump people were listening.”
I wasn’t talking about those people. I was talking about the corrupting influence of money and power on everyone. Yet all they could hear was the message of the secular world. It had so influenced their minds that everything was read through that lens. They walked away thinking exactly what they had thought when they walked through the door that day.
That is not Christianity. That is not what Christ has called us to. He has called us to influence the world, to set it on fire with the Holy Spirit. That means we have to stop listening to the world, because it will never tell us anything good. We have to be the ones influencing it. We cannot keep letting those voices into our lives, especially into the Church. We have to push back.
Our words should be the words of Christ. Our words should be the words of the Scriptures and of the saints. That is how we counteract what the world offers us. We must not allow it to force its divisions upon us. We must push back, to force it to become what Christ himself has willed.
So we all need to look within our own hearts and our own lives and ask: Where have we let the world take control? Where have we allowed it to reshape us? We have to invite the Holy Spirit into that part of our lives and allow his fire to burn that away. Then we must carry that fire out into the world, to bring about change and create God’s kingdom here on earth. That is what he has called us to do.