Reflection for Sunday 17th August, 2025

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Facing Fire and Water (Luke 12:49-53)

“I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!”
Jesus spoke about his passionate desire to bring fire to the earth. This fire would be seen at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. In cooking, fire transforms the ingredients. The apostles were transformed by the fire of the Spirit.

The community of faith, known to us as the Church, was born at Pentecost. Our popular prayer to the Holy Spirit is a desire for fire. “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle within them the fire of your love.” Jesus came to bring fire to the earth. At our baptism we received the fire of Christ’s light in the transfer of light from the Easter candle to our baptismal candle. Let your light shine. But, as Pope Francis wrote in The Joy of the Gospel, a person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody. Come, fire of Pentecost, enkindle within us the fire of your love.

Dying, you destroyed our death: rising you restored our life: Lord Jesus come in glory.

Plunged into water

Immediately after predicting the fire of Pentecost, Jesus spoke of the distress he felt whenever he thought of having to plunge into the stormy water of suffering on the cross. “There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over.” In the early days of the Church, baptism involved plunging one’s head under water. The first great theologian in the Church, Saint Paul, constantly refers to baptism as sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ. “You have been buried with him by your baptism; by which, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead.” (Col 2:12)

Divided Families

After talking about his own suffering, Jesus foretold that his followers would be rejected just as he was. Fifty years later, when Luke was writing, he was aware of the painful divisions in families. Jesus came to bring peace, but strict Jews felt obliged by law to cast out Christian believers. Sometimes it takes courage to be a Christian. But fear not, the Spirit of Pentecost transformed the fearful apostles with extraordinary courage. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who suffered on the cross before the coming of the fire of the Holy Spirit for the transformation of the world.
In today’s Second Reading, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews encouraged his fellow Christian Jews to persevere in faith. “Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on he has taken his place at the right hand of God’s throne.”

Where do I stand

Have I the courage to stand up for our Christian ideals … to risk being ridiculed … to resist mockery of our faith … to come out publicly in support of a religious ideal … to pray in public … to wear a religious emblem? As we have already noted, Jesus warned that the opposition and criticism might begin at home.
On a stormy sea, while Peter looked at Jesus, he walked on water. But when he looked at the waves, he sank. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Dying, you destroyed our death: rising you restored our life: Lord Jesus come in glory.