Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Kenn.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Deacon Eric Bissette.
Deacon Eric is a beloved spiritual leader in his home parishes of the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Little Book's listeners will recognize Deacon Eric as a regular narrator for our daily reflections.
And now, here is today's gospel and homily.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.
Jesus said to his disciples, 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 I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on, a household of five will be divided three against two and two against three.
A father will be divided against his son and a son against his father.
A mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother.
A mother in law against her daughter in law and a daughter in law against her mother in law.
The Gospel of the Lord.
I remember when some years back, this same gospel was the Sunday reading. I had a Saturday evening mass at the parish, which was also a holy day, the Feast of the Assumption.
When I went into the sacristy, the pastor asked if I would do the readings of the Sunday or the readings of the Assumption.
I said, the Assumption.
He said, good, because I never did like the Gospel for this Sunday.
A lot of us feel that way.
It's no one's favorite, but we are a full gospel church.
We don't simply pick and choose the ones we like.
We have set readings and work our way through all the Gospels, including the hard sayings of Jesus.
This passage occurs at about the midpoint of Luke's Gospel.
Jesus has begun his journey to Jerusalem, where he will die, and the journey will last for about 10 chapters.
At the beginning of Luke's Gospel, the angels sang at his birth, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to those on whom God's favor rests.
Now Jesus says, do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
A lot had happened since the angel sang those words.
Jesus came to set the earth on fire, to show us a new way to live, a way that would bring all of us and all of creation to the destiny for which God created all people and all things.
It started well, but then there was opposition and conflict. And Jesus as a human being began to realize that, like his cousin John the Baptist, he could be killed in this passage. He speaks of the conflict and of his death, referring to it as a baptism with which I must be baptized.
Jesus begins to talk about how his teachings will cause division among people, even among close friends, even families.
I don't enjoy hearing these words.
I like the other parts of the gospel where Jesus heals a person with leprosy, a blind man raises up a widow's only son.
I like the parts where he feeds the hungry multitude, where people thank him and praise him.
But we can't have just those parts.
We are a full gospel church.
Here's what it comes down to.
Christianity isn't private.
There is a tendency to be private, but that's not the way it is to be a Christian. To be a disciple of the Lord is a way of life, and it enters into every compartment of our lives.
It isn't a hobby, a specialty that touches only the private life.
It affects the way we see everything.
It affects the way we act in every part of our lives.
It usually doesn't cause conflict. It shines with kindness, forgiveness, concern for the poor, the weak, those who are left out.
In most of Luke's gospel, there is no conflict. The people love Jesus, and that is what Luke tries to stress.
If you knew this man, Jesus really knew him, you would love him.
But Luke tells the truth. There is also conflict.
Herod, for one, wants to kill Jesus.
The religious leaders plot to kill him.
Judas, one of Jesus own select group of 12, will betray him.
As long as we are alive, we will sometimes encounter conflict.
Our beliefs will seem offensive to others.
When we take seriously the way Jesus lived and taught us to live. We will encounter issues about the poor, which means economic issues.
We will encounter issues about the way we treat our enemies, which means war.
We will encounter issues of human life, which means abortion at one end and euthanasia at the other.
And then what about the way we treat any human being, which means in our day, minorities, the marginalized, women.
It will have to do with the multiplication of weapons of destruction, nuclear arms, guns.
It will have to do with everything.
And though most people don't enjoy conflict, conflict will inevitably come unless we keep our way of life secret.
But Christianity can never be private. It's public.
There were times in our history when we resolved this problem by taking over.
There have been Christian empires, Christian states, but that doesn't work.
In the Second Vatican Council, we declared the principle of religious freedom. We don't want to force nations, through secular power, to follow this way of life.
The Church has taken its stand on democracy, and we believe in it. We ask only the freedom to speak and live our way of life.
But this brings conflict among friends, even among family members.
The response of the democratic political systems is to say, then keep your religion private.
But our way of life cannot be private.
We are not a select group who keeps this way of life to itself.
We're trying to set the earth on fire.
We have a way of life that we want others to know about.
A way of life that brings all people and all things to the destiny for which God created them.
We have a story to tell, and we will tell it.
We will live it.
And it goes no more easily for us than it did for Jesus.
Mother Teresa lived this way of life, and it did not cause conflict.
She picked up the dying and the dead from the streets of Bombay, and everyone loved her.
She took seriously the teaching of Jesus towards the poor and those left out.
Archbishop Romero played a different role.
He was the archbishop of San Salvador, and he saw the way the poor and the powerless were being treated, and he spoke out.
He was from a wealthy background and he was by nature a conservative person, but he took seriously the way of life. Jesus taught and he spoke out.
It wasn't for him a private matter, and the military shot him dead while he was saying Mass.
Archbishop Don Helder is another example.
He was in Brazil. He once said, when I fed the poor, they called me a saint.
When I started asking why so many people are poor, they called me a communist.
If Christianity were private, we wouldn't need church buildings.
We'd simply pray to Jesus privately and keep it all to ourselves.
So we come together, as the early Christians did, a small minority in the face of pagan empires.
We come together to support one another, to absorb the strength of others who believe as we do, to extend a hand of peace.
Most of all, we come together to listen to the word of God and then to bring to the altar our money and bread and wine, which represents our lives and the whole world.
To bring all of this to the altar and place it in the Lord's hands and with him to lift it up to God and ask God to bring all of us, all people, all things, to the destiny for which God created them.
We commit ourselves to this way of life.
We commit ourselves to follow the Lord.
We say, through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever.
Amen.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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[00:11:10] Speaker B: Sa.
