20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

August 19, 2001

The national news has been covering the fires that are spreading across the west of our country. It showed a small tourist town where people were going about their daily lives. In the distance you could see the smoke of the fires.

We are people who are going about our daily lives. People have their problems whether they believe in God or not. We who believe in God have no more understanding as to the reason certain things happen to us.

Then what makes us different? Perhaps we should ask whether we want to be different from others.

Jesus tells us in the gospel today that he comes to make us different. Jesus comes to bring that fire that is at a distance into our lives. What is that fire?

St. Paul explains that that fire is keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. It is going through the baptism that Jesus went through. It is taking our suffering, pain, questions, and doubts and allowing them to help us see Jesus more clearly as our comfort, meaning and answer to all of our questions and doubts.

St. Paul tells us that we are surrounded by a crowd of witnesses. These are the saints who lived lives as we and chose to be different for Christ. They encourage us to chose Christ as well.

It would be a tragedy if that fire which is in the mountains came into that small tourist village. It would spread and destroy so much.

It would not be a tragedy if the fire of Christ came into our village. It would spread and bring about much joy and hope. St. Paul tells us that it would spur us on as athletes to our the goal of our race which is heaven to be on fire with God’s presence for ever.