Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Guys seem to have a universal reputation for being pyromaniacs, that is, obsessed with fire. It may not apply to all men, and it may apply to some women, but generally the guys I know love lighting fires. There is a special thrill that comes from getting some newspaper, small twigs, and a couple of logs to make a large fire, giving off heat and light. Sometimes guys have to settle with the fire they create lighting a grill. But generally, guys love fire.
I doubt that Jesus was obsessed with anything, other than doing His Father’s will. Yet, maybe he really liked fire, too, as we heard Him say today, “‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!’” But, as we all know, Jesus wasn’t talking about a bonfire. He was talking about the heat and the light that come from the passion for God and His truth and love.
Sometimes we get a taste for this with other people in our lives. We are approaching the beginning of school, which generally makes the students (and often the teachers) a little sad. Yet, it can also be a time of great joy and excitement, especially when friends haven’t seen each much or at all during the summer. Teachers know all too well about the chaos that ensues when two friends who haven’t really seen each other all summer get in the same room for the first time. It is definitely fire-like!
Jesus wants that sort of intensity in our relationship with Him. Now, as with fires, just because there are big flames does not mean the fire is super hot. Some of the hottest fires I have made have been fires that no longer flame as much, but are white-hot coals. Our relationship with Jesus doesn’t need to have lots of exciting moments to be strong. Sometimes a strong relationship is one that doesn’t have lots of flames, but is more white-hot coals. Still, when new fuel gets added to those white-hot coals, it can certainly create those exciting new signs of activity.
So how do we have a fire-like relationship with Jesus? How do we quench Jesus’ thirst for the world to be on fire with His love and truth? One way is prayer. A few years back as a Diocese we prayed the prayer to the Holy Spirit. The beginning of that prayer is: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your love.” How often do we pray to the Holy Spirit, using those words or others, asking Him to stoke the coals, or maybe add more fuel to the fire before it goes out? How often do we ask God to make the fire of faith alive in us?
Another way to keep that fire of God’s love hot is to suffer. We hear about that in our first and second readings today. Jeremiah suffers for speaking God’s Word. He’s even thrown into a cistern and starts to sink into the mud. Now, we might not think of that as a way to help our relationship with God. But think about your friends: are your best friends the one who are only with you in the good times? Or are your best friends the ones who are with you no matter what, who are willing to be with you with life has got you down, and when others, or maybe even the world, seems to be against you? The author to the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us to not grow weary or lose heart, because suffering perfects our relationship with God. It is not a sign that God hates us; it is not necessarily a sign that we have done something wrong (though sometimes our sufferings come from our own sins). But it is always a way that God is inviting us to trust Him more, and to remind us that, no matter how bad things get, He never abandons us, just as He never abandoned Jesus even as Jesus endured the cross.
In order to strengthen our relationship with God, we can also look to Mary, whose Assumption, body and soul, into heaven we celebrate tomorrow. Mary always leads us to Jesus, and she shows us how to be a good disciple. She shows us how to ponder God’s Word in our hearts, how to suffer with faith, and how to rejoice in the triumphs that God gives us. How long has it been since you prayed a rosary? Sometimes we think we don’t have time, but even just a decade is a good place to start. I often pray the rosary as I’m driving from one place to another. Or, if we pray the rosary regularly, are there other ways that we can strengthen our relationship with Jesus through Mary?
Imagine if all of us, guys and gals, were as obsessed with our relationship with Jesus as guys tend to be with fire. Imagine if we worked as hard to get our relationship with Jesus going as we did trying to get newspaper, twigs, and logs to burn. If that were the case, the world would be a warmer and brighter place, not with climate change and light pollution, but with the warmth and light of God’s love.
