This Sunday's Gospel has Jesus saying, "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!"
I suspect with the fires raging in California now that it is not the most popular thought for homilists and they may well turn to the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews: "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, ..."
You can read the rest, but I am struck by the fact that Paul tells us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. That is really all that matters!
The first reading had the princes throwing Jeremiah in the well where he was sunk in mud. However, God did not allow him to die as he still had much to say to a stiff-necked people. We, too, have work to do for the Lord and so we must fix our eyes on Jesus and know that beyond the suffering comes the joy, and our joy will be eternal.
No comments:
Post a Comment