20th sunday- C

TWENTIETH SUNDAY-C 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, we are happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. Our special welcome to all our parishioners, summer parishioners, visitors and everyone here today. 

Two weeks ago, my mom celebrated her birthday and I wished her and said, “Mom, shall I sing for you?” She said, “Life is short. Please don’t”. And I said, “Last year, I sang for you and you seemed to enjoy that”. She said, “Son, after you sang, for three weeks, I had chest pain”. 

Once a man went to the psychologist and said, “Doctor, I think I am a goat”. What? You are a goat. That’s not good at all. For how long you have been thinking this way?” The man said, “Ever since I was a kid”. 

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ the only Son of God was sent by the Father to bring us all life, life that will never end.  

He came to establish the kingdom of God, which is love, forgiveness, kindness and compassion. He came to bring the fire of love that consumed the enmity, hatred, division and so on. 

In today’s gospel, Christ our Lord says that He came to bring fire. When we think about fire, we right away come to know the power of it. It has the power to create as well to destroy. There are two kinds of fire namely given fire such as the Sun and human made fire such as the fire that we make. Yes, given fire or person made fire, they create lives or destroy them. 

Once a man called the fire department and said, “By the way, I have a beautiful front yard landscaped. I have a nice flower bed, a beautiful fishpond with a fountain and a new rose garden”.  The fire fighter said, “That sounds good and what does that have to do with the fire service?”  

The man said, “The house next door is on fire and I don’t want you to trample my front yard”. 

The book of Genesis says that God said, “Let there be light”. And there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God then separated the light from the darkness and called the light, day and the darkness, night. In the New Testament, Christ our Lord the giver of light says, “I am the light of the world and anyone who follows me, will never see darkness but, will have the light of life. When John the Baptist saw Christ our Lord coming toward him, he said of Him, “Behold the lamb of God and I baptize you with only water but the one who is coming after me, will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit. 

In today’s gospel, Christ our Lord says, “I came to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it were kindled already” 

Yes, Christ our Lord came to give us the fire of hope and love namely the Holy Spirit. He came to us so that we would receive life to the fullest and we would know the secret of happiness and joy. 

Even after His glorious Resurrection, Christ our Lord appeared to His apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit the fire of love”. On the day of Pentecost, the fire of the Spirit came on the believers.  

Jesus says that He came to bring fire and division. He came to dive father from his son and mother from her daughter. He came to bring division. Christ our Lord is talking about the division that would happen because of His unconditional love and forgiveness. As we talk about Christ’s unconditional love and forgiveness and His way of non-violence and acceptance, will go away from us. Amen.