ĐỜI SỐNG MỚI TRONG THẦN KHÍ -REFLECTION 20TH SUNDAY-C
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- Category: 7. Đời Sống Mới Trong Thần Khí
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Mo NguyenAug 17 at 9:15 AM
NO PEACE WITHOUT CHANGE OF HEART
Sunday 19 August 2019
TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME / C
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL (Luke 12: 49-53)
NO PEACE WITHOUT CHANGE OF HEART
A tough message that we hear from Jesus in the Gospel today! ‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth?’ Well, wasn’t that the message that the angels announced on the night he was born – ‘Peace on earth to people of good will’? But here he’s saying, not peace, but division –division especially within families. What are we to make of it all?
Jesus may in fact have come to bring peace but it is no simple matter for that peace to be received. His message calls for conversation of heart. It challenges deep seated views and comfortable arrangements – especially social arrangements that privilege a few people while many other miss out.
Bringing God’s peace to the world will mean for Jesus conflict with the authorities of his people and ultimately death on a cross. It is only after he has emerged from that conflict, victorious in resurrection on the third day, that he will say to his shattered disciples, ‘Peace be with you’ (Luke 24:36).
So there is a cost to being a peace-bringer to a world that may long for peace but not be prepared to confront the cost that true peace requires.
Even the most basic human institutions are not exempt from the challenge that following Jesus’ way requires. Saint Francis of Assisi and many other saints who, like him, followed Jesus in a radical way, had to break with their families in so doing. It’s that sort of challenge that Jesus is being clear about in the Gospel.
Brendan Byrne, SJ
Change My Heart Oh God - Don Moen(with Lyrics):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5BdxEf3EgY
Change My Heart Oh God