August 17, 2025
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 120
Reading 1
In those days, the princes said to the king:
"Jeremiah ought to be put to death;
he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in this city,
and all the people, by speaking such things to them;
he is not interested in the welfare of our people,
but in their ruin."
King Zedekiah answered: "He is in your power";
for the king could do nothing with them.
And so they took Jeremiah
and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah,
which was in the quarters of the guard,
letting him down with ropes.
There was no water in the cistern, only mud,
and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
Ebed-melech, a court official,
went there from the palace and said to him:
"My lord king,
these men have been at fault
in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah,
casting him into the cistern.
He will die of famine on the spot,
for there is no more food in the city."
Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Cushite
to take three men along with him,
and draw the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before
he should die.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (14b) Lord, come to my aid!
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
The LORD heard my cry.
He drew me out of the pit of destruction,
out of the mud of the swamp;
he set my feet upon a crag;
he made firm my steps.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
Many shall look on in awe
and trust in the LORD.
R. Lord, come to my aid!
Though I am afflicted and poor,
yet the LORD thinks of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, hold not back!
R. Lord, come to my aid!
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.
For the sake of the joy that lay before him
he endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.
Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,
in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081725.cfm
Commentary on
Jeremiah 38:4-6,8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53
Three Statements
Jesus makes three important statements in today’s Gospel. The first is:
I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish
it were already ablaze!
This is not the fire of destruction or the fire that ravages
forests every year:
- It
is the fire of heat and light.
- It
is the fire that cleanses and purifies.
- It
is the fire of God’s presence:
-as in the burning bush that Moses saw,
-as in the pillar of fire that accompanied the Israelites in
the desert,
-as in the tongues of fire at Pentecost where the bringing
of fire was mandated to the disciples, to the Church, to all of us.
As a purifying fire, it can also bring pain and
purification, but it ultimately leads to conversion and liberation.
His second statement:
I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what
constraint I am under until it is completed!
This does not mean that Jesus is to be re-baptised in the
Jordan. The word ‘baptism’ implies total immersion (the way sacramental baptism
was carried out in the early church and in some churches today). There is a
close link between the catechumen being ‘buried’ in water and rising with
Christ, and Jesus being ‘baptised’ by being immersed in his suffering and death
on the way to resurrection. Jesus does not look forward to his ‘baptism’ for
the pain it brings, but for the salutary effects it produces for all of us.
Jesus’ third statement:
Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the
earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
This is a statement with which critics of religion would
cynically agree. Religion is seen by some as a major source of division,
suffering and war in our world.
But to others it is a very puzzling, even alarming,
statement. It seems to contradict the whole message of the Gospel. At the Last
Supper, Jesus told his disciples that he was giving them peace, a peace that
the world could not give, a peace that no one could take away from them. We
call Jesus the Prince of Peace. In the Beatitudes we read:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God. (Matt 5:9)
They especially are the ones who do the work of God—and of
Jesus. In the letter to the Ephesians, Jesus is called “our peace”, breaking
down the walls that divide peoples. And Jesus tells us:
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
Painful words
It is especially painful to hear the Gospel speak of families being broken up
because of Jesus. But this is less a prophecy or an expression of God’s will
than a description of the Church’s very real experience from the time the
Gospels were being written down to our own day. In many countries, both
Christian individuals and Christian communities are seen as a threat to
governments, various power groups and other religious groups.
Yet, in the long history of the Church, how many families
have suffered because members became Christians? Most of us—especially those
who have lived in non-Christian or anti-Christian societies—probably have met
someone who was rejected by their family for becoming an active Christian. And,
not infrequently, persecution comes even from other Christians, from within the
Church itself.
It is significant in the First Reading that Jeremiah is
dumped into a cistern, not by outsiders, but by his own people who did not like
the message from God that he was bringing. And how many people realise that
there have been more martyrs for the faith in our supposedly advanced and
civilised ‘modern times’ than in all the preceding centuries of the past!
Non-violence
The Christian message is non-violent. It brings love, compassion, harmony,
peace. It brings people together so that there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave
or free, male or female. But it also, of its nature, challenges injustice,
corruption, discrimination, abuse, dishonesty and all attacks on human dignity.
The role of the evangeliser is “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the
comfortable.”
Vested interests—the rich, the powerful inside and outside
the Church—will do anything to keep what they have. When the Church preaches
and lives the Gospel, conflict is inevitable—even though in no way wished or
intended.
So, in one way, religion should never divide. It is only a
false Christianity and religion that deliberately creates division (‘them and
us’). It is not Christianity or any other religion as such which has brought so
much suffering, but certain people who call themselves ‘Christians’ (or
Muslims, Hindus or Jews).
At the same time, true Christianity as lived out in
defending truth, justice, human dignity and freedom will inevitably meet
opposition and be attacked. The passage which says that the peacemakers are
blessed also says that those who are persecuted in the name of the Gospel are
equally blessed. Strangely enough, both go together.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/oc201/
Sunday,
August 17, 2025
20th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Shaddai, God of the mountain, You who
make of our fragile life the rock of your dwelling place, lead our mind to
strike the rock of the desert, so that water may gush to quench our thirst. May
the poverty of our feelings
cover us as with a mantle in
the darkness of the night and may it
open our heart to hear the echo of silence until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning, may bring us,
with the spent embers of the fire of
the shepherds of the Absolute who have kept vigil for us close to the divine
Master, the flavor of the holy memory.
Lectio
The Text – Luke 12: 49-53 (59)
49 ‘I have come to bring fire to
the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! 50 There is a baptism I must
still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 ‘Do you
suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division. 52 For from now on, a household of five will be divided: three
against two and two against three; 53 father opposed to son, son to father,
mother to daughter, daughter to mother, mother-in-law to daughterin-law,
daughter-in-law to mother-in-law.’ 54 He said again to the crowds, ‘When you see
a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it
does. 55 And when the wind is from the south you say it’s going to be hot, and
it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the
sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times?
57 ‘Why not judge for yourselves
what is upright? 58 For example: when you are
going to court with your opponent, make an effort to settle with him on the
way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the
officer and the officer have you thrown into prison. 59 I tell you, you will
not get out till you have paid the very last penny.’
A Moment of Silence:
Let us
allow the voice of the Word to resonate within us.
Meditatio
Some Questions:
•
I have
come to bring fire to the earth: Fire presupposes a vehemence of sentiment
and a center of life because where there is light, heat, force, movement, there
is life. And not a life which is stagnant, but a life which is continuously
nourished. Does the fire of the life of God burn in me?
•
Why not
judge for yourselves what is upright? The invitation to discern personally
is even more urgent in a world in which opinions run after each other and form
a “mass”… How much do I allow myself to be conditioned by the judgements and
criteria chosen by others?
•
Make an
effort to settle with him on the way… You are walking to go to the tribunal
because you think you are right, but the opponent also has the same certainty.
How do I feel before the one whom I feel is hostile toward me? Do I feel sure
of myself to the point of going to the tribunal or rather do I try to agree
with my opponent on the way? Detailed
Analysis of the Text:
•
v. 49. I have come to bring fire to the earth; and
how I wish it were blazing already! The fire which is not extinguished
comes from Heaven, it is the fire of the Spirit which makes of all things that
exist, the luminous and warm expression of the divine Presence among us. The
Baptism of love. The light is born, the bread is born, the water is born, God
is born! The Cross, a new Bethlehem, House of the perfect Bread, a new Emmaus,
the hostel of the broken Bread, a new Bethany, House of the perfumed Bread
offered to men forever.
•
v. 50. There is a baptism I must still receive; and
what constraint I am under until it is completed! Anguish, the symptom of
those fears which from within get hold of one and disfigure, distort and leave
without breath, Jesus also experienced this. What can one do against anguish?
Nothing can be done but only wait so that what is good is fulfilled and that
the fears be involved in the event itself. Anguish clasps tightly and can
demolish every possibility of interior movement. The anguish of the one who
trusts and accepts life, even if it clasps the person tightly in a terrible
vice like grip, does not demolish, but rather fortifies in so far as it renders
the waiting free or devoid of illusions and of easy hopes.
•
V. 51. Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace
on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Man seeks peace. But what
peace? The peace of “do not disturb me,” the peace of “let us not make
problems,” the peace of “everything is fine,” a superficial peace. This peace
is the earthly peace. Jesus has come to bring us the true peace, the fullness
of the gifts of God. This peace then, is no longer called peace, but in so far
as it is against the apparent peace, it is called, in the eyes of man
“division” It can well be said that the peace of Christ elects or chooses and
in so far as it elects, it distinguishes, like a magnet which in a magnetic
field attracts to itself what is of the same “nature,” but it does not attract
anything which is not of a similar nature.
•
vv. 52-53. For from now on, a
household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three;
father opposed to son, son to father, mother to daughter, daughter to mother,
mother-in-law to daughter-in-law, daughterin-law to mother-in-law. Everything
which divides does not come from God, because in God there is unity. But in His
name it is possible even to go beyond the natural commandment. Honor your
father and mother, says the ancient law. And the new law which is that of love
without limit even goes to say: He who loves father and mother more than Me is
not worthy of me. Division is this case can be understood as the priority of
love, a hierarchy of values. To God, the source of life corresponds the first
place. To the father and the mother who have accepted, welcomed life, the
second place… such an order is in the logical nature of that order. It is not
an honor to the father and the mother to disobey God or to love Christ less.
Because the love for father and mother is a love of response, the love of God
is generating love.
•
vv. 54-55. He said again to the
crowds, “When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain
is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it is
going to be hot, and it is. Before reproaching the crowds, Jesus appreciates
the good that they are capable of. If a cloud comes from the west, it is rain
that comes. And man has this certainty as a result that he has been observing
the natural phenomena up to the point of formulating laws. If the wind comes
from the south, it will be hot. Confirmed and reflected upon, regulates the
consequences for us.
•
v. 56. Hypocrites! You know how to
interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to
interpret these times? Why not use the same criteria for the events of the
present moment? History speaks for itself.
Why not evaluate it on the basis of
experience? The logic which binds premises and consequences is the same one on
human events and on supernatural ones. The world of relationships, the world of
religious convictions, the world of human expectations… everything is subject
to the same law. Then, if Christ has been expected for centuries as the
fulfilment of the promises of God, and if this Jesus of Nazareth fulfils the works
of faith with the finger of God, why doubt that the Kingdom of God has arrived?
This is hypocrisy. It is not to want to admit God’s fidelity and to insist and
persist to wait for the fulfilment of what we have seen.
•
v. 57. Why not judge for yourselves what is upright? What is upright can
always be judged. It does not serve to wait for the judgement of others. And
just the same, we are always bound to the thought and the words of others, to
what happens and to what is projected, to perspectives of success and to
thousands of hesitations. To trust one’s correct judgement is wise!
•
v. 58. When you are going to court
with your opponent, make an effort to settle with him on the way, or he may
drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the
officer have you thrown into prison. The wisdom and the judgement of Jesus are
directed toward something truly useful. Do not expect to receive justice,
because no one is just to the point of being able to avoid being condemned to
prison. We are all sinners! And therefore, instead to appealing to a false
justice, that for which you consider yourself worthy to be absolved, better
appeal to harmony. Try to reach an agreement so as not to be led before the
judge. You judge the facts and conclude that it is always better not to feel
oneself free from guilt. Saint Paul says it: Neither do I judge myself… my
judge is the Lord. Yes He…
•
v. 59. I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last
penny. Who has no debts? Why do we want to live our life in a court to
constantly decide who is guilty and who is innocent? Would it not be better to
live simply, in agreement and harmony with everyone, since all seek to want
what is good and all have fragility and weakness as the coin with which to pay?
Reflection:
If we too could bring fire to the earth of
our heart! A fire capable of extending itself without causing a great fire, but
creating cordial bonds of union and a lively exchange… The one who plays with
fire will certainly have his hands burnt, but what a great benefit for all.
Fire divides, it creates circles of encounter and barriers of inaccessible
passages. Like in all divine things we find ourselves in at a crossroads
section: with Christ or against Him. Yes, because we must never forget that He
is a sign of contradiction for all times, a stumbling stone for those who look
to the top expecting miracles and prodigies and a corner stone for the one who
looks at His tired hands and grasps tightly the hands of a carpenter trying to
construct the house of hope, the Church. A time of grace: How not recognize it?
If you go by a lighted fire, you feel the heat. Christ is the lighted fire or
flame! If you cross a torrent flowing with water, on a suffocating hot day of
summer, you feel the freshness and feel attracted by the movement of the water
which comes toward you to quench your thirst and to give you moments of relief.
And Christ is the water which gushes out for eternal life! If at night you
listen to the silence, you cannot but feel anxious waiting for the light of the
new day which will rise. And Christ is the Sun who rises! It is the word which
at night is silence and in the East it becomes a syllable of a new dialogue.
Why not become aware that it is just that all hostility falls and walk with
anyone recognizing him as a brother? If you consider him an enemy, you are
going to seek justice… If you consider him as a brother, the thought comes to
your mind to take care of him and to walk together a part of the road, to share
with him your anguishes and your anxieties, and to listen to him about his
difficulties. Why do you want at all costs to pay your debt up to the last
penny?
Oratio
Psalm 32
How blessed are those whose
offence is forgiven, whose sin blotted out. How blessed are those to whom
Yahweh imputes no guilt, whose spirit harbors no deceit. I said not a word,
but my bones wasted away from
groaning all the day; day and night your hand lay heavy upon me;
my heart grew parched as stubble in summer
drought. I made my sin known to you, did not conceal my guilt.
I said, ‘I shall confess my
offence to Yahweh.’ And you, for your part, took away my guilt, forgave my sin.
That is why each of your faithful ones prays to you in time of
distress.
Even if great floods overflow,
they will never reach your faithful. You are a refuge for me,
you guard me in trouble, with
songs of deliverance, you surround me. I shall instruct you
and teach you the way to go;
I shall not take my eyes off you. Be
not like a horse or a mule; that does not understand bridle or bit; if you
advance to master them, there is no means of bringing them near. Countless
troubles are in store for the wicked, but one who trusts in Yahweh is enfolded
in his faithful love. Rejoice in Yahweh, exult all you upright, shout for joy,
you honest of heart.
Contemplatio
Lord, you who search into my heart and make
of my fears the paths to create the newness of gifts, enter into my anguishes.
There where I lose my hope and where the tremor devours me, there where every
spark of grace burns my securities and makes of me a pile of ashes, there
enkindle anew the fire of your love. Give a look or gaze capable of penetrating
reality and of fixing it on your gaze which waits for me beyond the veil of all
appearances. Do not allow that I be driven away from my desire of communion.
And also there where in your name I would find opposition, resistance,
adversity, may be able to enter into the anguish of division to maintain alive
the flame of the encounter with you!
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