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Family turmoil or rifts are something I do not wish on anybody. They can be deeply hurting and the wounds they create stay raw even after reconciliation. When things go rogue in the family, they are very destabilizing to us.
Why then would Jesus even begin to suggest that 'he' (of all people) is an agent of family division?? He has come to be a cause of anguish and frustration?? Is this smart? Who is advising Jesus?
If, however, this is not Jesus' intended message, what is the point of the Gospel?
The words of Jesus are intended for the disciples (would be followers) and the point is- there is a cost to discipleship. The Christian calling and life will always 'provoke' a decision or taking a stand. The decision one makes might as well lead to hate, suffering or even violent death but there can be no compromise, hence the comparison to a family rift. At some point, 'the messenger and the message' must overlap. In other words, the messenger must become the message.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks words to the king and his advisors that are a bitter pill to swallow . His rivals don't want to hear the truth, so they falsely conspire against him:
"Jeremiah ought to be put to death;
he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city,
and all the people, by speaking such things to them;
He is not interested in the welfare of our people,
but in their ruin."
Jeremiah is thrown into a cistern (a place of slow death), yet the prophet will not budge. Speaking the truth (God's Word) to power will always attract dislike, hate, unpopularity, discard, will you stand by it or will you sell out? Will you give into compromise? When have your faith values and therefore choices brought you disfavor or discomfort and you gave in?
In the second reading, the Christian community is summoned to 'draw a lesson from the cloud of witnesses'- ancestors in faith who had to face torture, mockery, scourging, imprisonment and even violent death, but they are reserved in running the race, fixing their eyes on Jesus. We pray for faith and courage to follow Jesus, especially when faith is being sidelined in society. Society wants Christianity silenced! No! we must stay the course. It begins with making Jesus the focus of decision.
"I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!
Fire (and water) can be very destructive forces yet after which a new beginning awaits. Oftentimes, the message of the Gospel summons us to make challenging decisions. There are times we will be accepted or rejected as disciples. Not every word will be applauded; rifts will occur and be visible, yet we cannot compromise God for anything else.
And there is also a deeper point here:
How does a Christian who loves God above all things and neighbor, then exclude or is prejudiced? How do those who believe in the sacrament of marriage and fidelity to one another, then compromise it hiddenly? How do Christian parents God, called to become bearers of his Word to their children, then lack the time and care for their children for other things? Has the messenger become the message? God commissions all of us as his messengers of the human dignity of each person. But our gossip and backbiting prove our capitulation, acknowledging that the messengers have not yet become the message.
The Eucharist dwells on Jesus' uncompromising attitude towards service. We see unswerving dedication to a cause that brings Jesus to self-empty in death. The messenger becomes the message. Let us who partake of the body and blood of Christ, find nourishment as we respond to the challenge of our founder.
Fr. Anthony Mpagi,
Pastor of Our Lady of Hope
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All About The Mass
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Readings of the Mass
LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of August 14th, 2022, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
SELECT HERE for the Readings of August 14th, 2022, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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Symbols and Signs of the Liturgy by Fr. Derek
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The cinture
The cincture is the cord worn around the waist by the priest. Its practical purpose is to gather in the loose-fitting alb, so that the alb does not impede the movements of the priest. The cincture's symbolic meaning is more significant, however, as it represents the virtue of chastity. When the priest ties the cincture about his waist, he prays, "Lord, gird me with the cincture of purity and extinguish my fleshly desires, that the virtue of continence and chastity may abide within me." Chastity is a virtue for all people in all states of life, of course, but for the celibate priest, this virtue takes on a special character.
According to the Rite of Ordination to the Transitional Diaconate, chaste celibacy is “at the same time a sign and a stimulus for pastoral charity and a special source of spiritual fecundity in the world." Priests thus “adhere to Christ more easily with an undivided heart, dedicate themselves more freely in him and through him to the service of God and men, and more expeditiously minister to his Kingdom and the work of heavenly regeneration, and thus they are apt to accept, in a broad sense, paternity in Christ.” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 16).
Thus, the call to celibate priesthood is a grace to live out spiritual fatherhood with the entirety of one’s being, such that the priest shares in the generative power of Christ in the order of grace. In forgoing the use of their physical generative powers, priests channel the whole of their virility into spiritual generation in union with Christ as his instrument in time. The cincture is thus both a sign of this commitment to spiritual paternity and a means for the priest to beg daily for the renewal of the grace to be chaste.
- Fr. Derek Mobilio
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About the Mass
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