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Hearts of Prayer: Sacred Liturgy - Homilies |
Set All Aflame!
Homily for Sunday, August 19 2007- 20th Sunday in
Ordinary Time, Yr C
Fr. Joseph Rogers
Read other homilies by Fr. Rogers>>>
Jer 38:4-6, 8-10; Ps
40; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53
My freshman year at Notre Dame my mom called me one Sunday. She
asked if I had gone to Mass. I explained to her that I had made a
discovery, something no one ever told me about at CCD (as I had
attended public schools): I explained to her that there were some
places where Mass is celebrated every day. “Mom,” I told her, “it’s
great. Here they have Mass in the morning, evening, everyday! So I
thought I’d go on Monday.” In a very controlled manner she
responded, “Joe, I don’t think it works that way.” I learned a lot
about the faith those formative years. My first biblical prayer was
inspired by singing a U2 song off the Unforgettable Fire Tour album.
The song was “40” – the tune the band used to close its concerts. A
friend told me, “The song’s called ‘40’ because the words are from
Psalm 40.” Sure enough, I checked the lyrics: “I waited patiently
for the Lord. He finally heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit,
out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, made my footsteps
firm. And many will see, many will see and hear. I will sing a new
song…” That psalm was all the Scripture I knew for about 10 years,
and it is one of my favorite prayers. I praise God that we have
prayed that psalm together today.
The Lord announces to us today that he has come to set the earth on
fire. It is his will to set all aflame. He has a baptism with which
he must be baptized. He has not come to bring peace but division.
These words of the Lord – fire, baptism, division – send us into the
Gospel. Receiving the Word of God within the unity of Scripture, we
return to the Lord’s baptism, the baptism of John in the Jordan,
where he descends into the waters for the baptism of repentance, and
where the Father speaks, “This is my beloved Son.” Jesus places
himself in total community with sinners, with us, while maintaining
total communion with God. In Jesus God is with us. His baptism in
the Jordan is a type, a sign, of the baptism that awaits him at
Calvary, where “He who knew not sin became sin, so that we might
become the very righteousness of God.” The baptism Jesus announces
today – the ultimate passage from sin and death to life with God –
is his Passion. On the Cross he prays: “Father, into your hands I
commend my Spirit.” That same Spirit descends upon the Apostles,
upon the whole Church, at Pentecost. The Spirit of fire that Moses
beheld on Sinai, the Spirit that brought Elijah on a fiery chariot
into heaven – that same Spirit blazes with all heavenly power in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus is consumed by the
fire of the Father’s love, so much so that he is raised from the
dead. The Father has fulfilled the will of the Son: he has set fire
to the earth in the glorified humanity of the Son of God. Jesus
Christ is totally consumed by the Father’s love. That Spirit, the
Fire of Love, descends upon the Apostles at Pentecost.
But Jesus also brings division. It is important to note that the
same Greek word used here for “division” and “divide” is used in
Acts chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles in
the upper room with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, at Pentecost. The
Spirit descends as tongues of fire which are divided over the
Apostles. This is the “division” the Lord has come to bring, the
sacred division of being anointed by the Holy Spirit, of being set
apart by God. The “division” of the Holy Spirit means we will walk
the road of Jeremiah. We will be rejected, scorned, mocked by
others. Jeremiah, who preached to Jerusalem just prior to the
Babylonian invasion, prophesied that Israel ought not to resist her
oppressors but trust in the Lord. Eventually he is exiled to Egypt
after the destruction of the Temple, but he remains faithful. We too
must be ready to announce the Word of God like Jeremiah, to become
the Word of God, but we never do so alone. The Letter to the Hebrews
reminds us that “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”
that we must “persevere in running the race . . . keeping our eyes
fixed on Jesus.” And that’s the key, keeping our eyes fixed on
Jesus, who is risen, totally consumed by the Fire of the Holy
Spirit.
So how do we do it? How do we live in the Spirit? How do we allow
this “fire” to be enkindled with us? How do we persevere?
My sisters and brothers, we must pray. The Lord has come to ignite
the fire of his love within us. This moment of ignition is our
baptism. Jesus is baptized in the fire of his Passion and
Resurrection that we may be baptized in the fire of his Spirit.
Prayer is the wind that spreads the blaze. St. John of the Cross
describes prayer as putting a wet, mildewed log on a hot, blazing
fire. At first the log snaps, crackles, pops – fumes, smells, makes
all kinds of sounds and emits all kinds of unpleasant odors – but
eventually the log is taken over by the flame, becomes one with the
flame, until the bright and daring flames seem to fuse with the wood
making it a hot, burning coal, apparently indistinguishable from its
source. It doesn’t matter how big the log is. What matters is that
it is totally set aflame. This metaphor of John of the Cross helps
us understand the relationship between baptism and prayer, of
allowing the Lord to set all aflame with us so that we are totally
consumed by him. At first the presence of the Lord brings division.
He must. There is much in us that is not of the Lord. We must be
stripped and cleaned of our worldly idols, those spoken and
unspoken, but we too can become a coal consumed by the fire of the
Holy Spirit. If I may borrow from the business world, we could say
that the pray life needs a good “marketing” plan. In marketing
people refer to the “four P’s”: product, price, place and promotion.
The “four P’s” can also help us set up a pray life. First, product:
we must pray daily with the Scriptures. We are bombarded with
deceptive images, false images on a regular basis. We must be
cleansed and filled with biblical images that purify and occupy our
imaginations. The Sacred Scriptures are the “product” par excellence
for the life of prayer. Price. There is a price to pay for praying.
The price is time. Praying costs us time. We must commit, decide, to
give the Lord time everyday just for him, just to be with him, even
if for only fifteen minutes each morning. Place. To pray we need to
have a sacred place where we can be with the Lord on a regular
basis. You may wish to take advantage of Eucharistic adoration here
in the Holy Family Chapel. In addition, personally, I like to pray
in my room. Promotion. People need to share the benefits of prayer
with others; talk about it; encourage each other. Share what the
Lord is doing in you.
My sisters and brothers, we must take our prayer lives seriously.
Without prayer we are easily neutralized in the battle of salvation,
but with a committed prayer schedule, daily time allowing the Holy
Spirit to heal, fill and reshape us through the inspired images of
Sacred Scripture, the song of the psalmist resonates deeply in our
hearts: “I waited and waited for the Lord. He stooped down to me and
heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit, from the miry clay. He
set my feet upon a rock and made my footsteps firm. He has put a new
song in my mouth . . .”
Fr. Joseph Everett
Rogers resides at the Pontifical North American College
in Rome studying for the
Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. He is a Graduate of Notre Dame
University, with an MA from the John Paul Institute for Marriage and
Family. He was ordained a Priest on May 26, 2007.
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