DAILY- HOMILY

October 24, 2019 - THURSDAY, 29th Week in Ordinary Time
St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Religious Founder
Green.

Rom 6: 19 – 23 / Lk 12: 49 – 53

St. Anthony Mary Claret (1807 – 1870), a Spanish missionary from Catalonia and the Canary Islands, became Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, and the founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians, 1849).

FROM THE 1ST READING: Rom 6: 20 – 23
When you were slaves of sin, you did not feel under the obligation of righteousness, but what were the fruits of those actions of which you are now ashamed? Such things bring death. Now, however, you have been freed from sin and serve God. You are bearing fruit and growing in holiness, and the result will be life everlasting. So, on one side is Sin: its reward, death; on the other side is God: he gives us, by grace, life everlasting in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

GOSPEL READING: Lk 12: 49 – 53
Jesus said, "I have come to bring fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled; but I have a baptism to undergo and what anguish I feel until it is over!

"Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house five will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against  son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

REFLECTION
The Gospel reading tells us that Christ has come "to bring fire upon the earth." He has come to inflame us with love of God and love of neighbor. He has come to transform us so we would be men and women of God rather than men and women of the flesh and of the world. At the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Simeon told his parents that Jesus will be "for the rise or fall of the multitudes of Israel. He shall stand as a sign of contradiction." (Lk 2: 34 – 35)

In the first reading Paul tells us that we are either for God and life or for sin and death.

There is no middle ground: we are either for or against God and his Christ. We lead our lives in sin and in this world or for God and his grace preparing treasure for heaven which will not rust.

In following Christ we may be at odds and in conflict with others, even our own family and close friends. Jesus tells us we should give priority to God and his kingdom above all others and above everything.

May we live in God's love and grace and spend our lives spreading his message of love and peace.

FINALLY, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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