August 17 – 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Sunday’s readings may seem strange in a world where the word love has acquired a connotation of complicity and unconditional acceptance. In fact, very different from this concept is the reality faced by those who, moved by authentic charity, have decided to follow in the Saviour’s footsteps …
Although acts of love and dedication for the salvation of souls initially arouse admiration and enthusiasm, it is not uncommon for this reaction to degenerate into envy, hatred and slander. This is what happened to Our Lord Jesus Christ: acclaimed for His miracles and received as King on Palm Sunday (cf. Jn 12:13), days later He heard from His own countrymen the unanimous cry of “Crucify Him”, before the astonished gaze of Pilate (Jn 19:6).
The first reading also gives us an example of this truth, when it tells of the fate of the prophet Jeremiah for preaching what the Lord had commanded him:
“In those days, the princes said to the king: ‘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’” (Jer 38:4).
Now, many begin the path of virtue moved by a certain love of God and neighbour, albeit superficial, without thinking of the obstacles that await them. And when these arise, they lose heart… The attitude of the Divine Master was the opposite, as we hear in the second reading: “Consider how He endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart” (Heb 12:3).
From all eternity Jesus knew the effects that the fire of His love for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls would produce: “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” (Lk 12:49-51).
Division… Our Lord had already been baptized by John in the Jordan. The baptism to which He refers in this Gospel passage is therefore His Passion and Death, a baptism of blood, pain and tribulation. He desired this holocaust with all His heart, wanting it to be fulfilled as soon as possible, because He knew that this was the consummation of His mission, which began with the Incarnation and was driven by an infinite love for sinful humanity!
Here is a lesson for us. When God calls us to fulfil a vocation, to carry out a work of apostolate, to overcome a vice or a whim, to abandon an occasion of sin, in short, to love Him above all things in our daily lives, let us obey His voice without delay!
Finally, let us pray to Mary Most Holy that She will embrace us with her love, and that her Divine Son will use us as faithful instruments for spreading this purifying fire over the entire face of the earth. ◊
