Tag Archives: Cross of Confusion

An Unpeaceable Kingdom

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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 that 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.” Luke 12,49-53

Most of us don’t want to live in the house our Lord describes in today’s gospel, where fathers fight with their sons, sons with their fathers; where mothers fight with their daughters, daughters with their mothers.”

Not a nice house to live in.

Same way with a world on fire. A little fire is all right, but a world on fire? Too much.

We’d rather live in a world Isaiah describes: a holy mountain where the lion and the lamb lie down together and a child can put his hand into a snake hole and not get bit. A peaceable kingdom.

But maybe the situation Jesus describes is a form of the cross he endured. Maybe it’s the cross he asks us to endure today: a world on fire with strife, confusion and misunderstanding. Can the cross take the form of confusion and misunderstanding? It’s hard to live in a world where things are not clear and hard to understand.

Maybe that’s the cross we have to carry today.

Is It All Worthwhile?

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“Is it all worthwhile, we ask in worldly wise?” A question asked in an old novena prayer.

I woke up today asking that question about the mission at Plainville.

The number of people who came to the services wasn’t impressive. Maybe 200 for the two services in the morning and evening. It was good to see the young people preparing for confirmation there in the evening. The priests of the parish were there too.

What surprised me was the number of visits to this blog during the mission, over 500 for the 4 days. I invited the people on Sunday to visit the blog, to invite others to follow it as a way of making the mission, and they evidently responded. How can I expand that part of the mission I wonder now?

I’m convinced  missions should be more catechetical and scriptural in nature. People need to reflect on their faith and they can do this by reflecting on the scriptures that communicate faith. So much of this is done through the liturgy; yet as people stop going to church they miss out on this vital communication. This is especially true of young people.

I thought our services were beautiful this week. Simple, prayerful, with beautiful music .

I had an interesting talk after the mission with Jean, the catechist at Our Lady of Mercy. They use the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for their very young children and an intergenerational approach for the rest of their program. They bring old and young together to learn. After a number of years, this program using the scriptures as its base seems to be gaining acceptance.

Jean thinks the lack of religion in the home has a lot to do with the drift of young people away from the church. You don’t talk about Jesus Christ, the gospels, the issues of life that faith raises, at home. Our people are confused by the times and by the scandals in the church.

Yet, as the readings from John remind us in these last weeks of Lent, Jesus Christ is the  source of life for us and for our world. We cannot ignore him.

During this mission I became more convinced that the traditional goal of the Passionists is still vital: to preach the Passion of Jesus Christ. He is there on the Cross of Confusion and the Cross of Uncertainty and the Cross of Diminishment we are experiencing in our world. Our dreams of success are bursting. We need to put ourselves into the hands of a mysterious God as Jesus did.

How shall we fulfill that goal today? I wish I knew. But it will come to us.

“Is it all worthwhile, we ask in worldly wise? Yes!”