JESUS BRINGS DIVISION
INTRODUCTORY RITES
Gather as a family/ community; create an environment appropriate for prayer (dress appropriately - switch off your phones...).
We cannot gather as usual for the Eucharist. But we are conscious that Christ is present not only in the Blessed Sacrament but also in the Scriptures and in our hearts. Even when we are on our own, we remain part of the Body of Christ.
Place lighted candles, a crucifix, and the Bible on a covered table. These remind us of the sacredness of our time of prayer and could help us feel connected with our local worshipping communities.
You may sing or play an appropriate hymn. For instance:
The Sign of the Cross
Greeting and Introductory Words
L: The Lord invites us to the table of his Word: let us bless him for his goodness.
A: Blessed be God forever.
L: All of us want peace! But true peace comes from doing God’s will, from living according to kingdom values and our convictions, from becoming the people God wants us to become. Such living—strangely, paradoxically—brings us into conflict with others… who are not on the same page! The readings of today challenge us to live by the Gospel even when such living causes conflict and division. We pray for the grace to live according to God’s will and the values of the kingdom.
Penitential Rite
L: For the times we have made compromises to get a wishy-washy peace, we ask the Lord for his forgiveness.
Pause
L: Lord Jesus, you came to set the earth on fire:
Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, you give us peace but not as the world gives:
Christ, have mercy.
A: Christ, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, you endured the cross:
Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
Gloria
Opening Prayer
L: To set the earth ablaze, O God,
your Son submitted to a baptism to death,
and from his cup of suffering
you call the Church to drink.
Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus
and give us strength in time of trial
to run the race that lies before us.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
A: Amen.
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
Readings
The readings are those assigned for the day in the Lectionary.
Preferably use a Bible/ Lectionary for reading.
Reading 1 Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10
Psalm Psalm 40:2, 3, 4, 18
Response Lord, come to my aid!
Reading 2 Hebrews 12:1-4
Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
Gospel Luke 12:49-53
Reflection on the Readings
Use one of the following ways to reflect on the readings.
Lectio Divina
Imagine you are with the disciples. What are your thoughts and feelings when you hear Jesus announce that he has come not “to establish peace on the earth… but rather division”?
Sunday Snippets
The Robe (the Lloyd C. Douglas’ novel, which Henry Koster directed as the epic film) explores the experiences of the Roman tribune Marcellus Gallio. Marcellus won Christ’s robe after the crucifixion. He set forth to find the truth about the robe, a quest that took him to the roots and heart of Christianity. He and his slave Demetrius became Christians. Eventually, Marcellus’ father disowned him as an enemy of Rome, and Demetrius’ physician denounced them to the authorities.
The Robe captures the division that Jesus brings within families… a division that he experienced and predicted.
Many see religion as a major source of division, suffering, and war in our world. However, this division is not about religion; it arises because of a conflict of values.
To understand the “why” of this division, we look at the peace that Jesus gives: it is not a compromising, anything-for-a-quiet-life kind of peace; it is a peace that comes from living according to God’s will and kingdom values.
Recall Jesus’ experience: each time he did the Father’s will, it divided him from those who would not take the step with him, and it moved him deeper into the peace that comes from being true to oneself. When we understand this meaning of “peace”, the talk of “division” is no longer strange!
Further, we forget how unconventional and counter-cultural Jesus was! He befriended sinners and outcasts; a Samaritan was the hero of his story; he asked the disciples to love their enemies! His open-hearted approach divided him from those with closed and hard hearts. The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews sums this up: “He endured such opposition”!
The first reading portrays the rejection and condemnation Jeremiah faces at the hands of his own people. For fearlessly speaking the word of God, he is left in a muddy cistern—without food and water—to die. The one who rescues him is a Cushite, a foreigner!
Living by kingdom values—love, justice, peace—will bring us into conflict those who do not accept such values… even when they are family. Promoting human dignity, rights, and freedom will inevitably bring us into conflict with those who want to subjugate and oppress the poor for their selfish ends.
Will I live by the values - lifestyle - choices of the kingdom (and my convictions) even at the risk of division in my family? Will I do God’s will and become the person he wants me to become even if it means going against my own?
Questions to Ponder
Reflect on some (or all) of the following questions:
Reading 1: Jeremiah was a prophet thrown into a cistern to die for speaking out against the waging of war. Who are the people in the present time that were/are treated the same way for speaking out against injustice? Am ready to speak out against injustice and communalism or to stand up for climate change?
Reading 2: Jesus endured opposition from sinners in order that we may not grow weary and lose heart. What causes me to grow weary and lose heart when “running the race that lies before us”?
Gospel: Have I experienced the “division” about which Jesus speaks when I have lived by gospel values and by my convictions? If yes, how did I respond: by continuing to live by these values/ convictions or by making compromises?
The Creed
Prayer of the Faithful
L: My brothers and sisters, faith brings to Jesus’ disciples not an easy peace, but struggle and contradiction for the disciple must follow the master on the way of the cross. We ask the Lord to strengthen his disciples to stand for the truth, as we pray: Lord, hear our prayer.
R: For the Church: that we may be transformed by the fire of the Spirit into a dynamic community of faith and give witness to God’s abiding presence and action in the world, we pray…
R: For world leaders: that they may be just and attentive to the needs of God’s household and may ensure a just sharing of the world’s resources, we pray…
R: For all who stand for the truth: that they may faithfully witness to the truth without succumbing to pride, self-centredness, or being judgemental, we pray…
R: For families which are divided or in conflict: that God may help them to hear and understand one another and find ways to support each other on life’s journey, we pray…
R: For all who are in need: that God may give strength to all who have lost homes or possessions in storms and flooding, give healing to the sick, and sustain them as they rebuild their lives, we pray…
R: For better stewardship: that God may guide us in understanding the interrelationships of our environment and help us be good stewards of creation, we pray…
R: For ourselves: that the Spirit may empower and sustain us even when living by gospel values yields division, we pray…
L: Lord God, may we never buy an easy peace that comes from self-contentment or the lack of involvement, but work for an interior peace which accepts the struggles of faith and which dares to live by the values of the gospel. Through Christ our Lord.
A: Amen.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
The Lord’s Prayer
Spiritual Communion
A: Jesus, I know and believe in your real presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is you I desire to love and receive above all things. As I am unable to receive your sacramental presence now, come and be with me in heart and soul. Let my entire self be united with you as I welcome you again and know your loving embrace. Amen.
Post Spiritual Communion Reflection
Lord,
you headed into a “dark descending”
when you journeyed to Jerusalem.
You loved her and her people,
and wanted to shower abundance upon them.
But you knew that Jerusalem would place you
—not merely down a cistern as the soldiers did Jeremiah,
not just outside the gates and walls
—but on a cross.
It would be a baptism and you yearned for it.
Lord,
when I stand for the truth and with the excluded,
when I live by your values and my convictions,
I too experience a dark descending
when my own throw me into cisterns.
Strengthen me not to sink into the mud
but to continue to abide in the Truth, that is, you!
CONCLUDING RITE
Concluding Prayer
L: God our Father,
by his life and death your Son showed us
the stony road that leads us to life and love.
Let the fire of his Spirit burn in us,
that we may reject
easy compromises with evil,
and silent complicity in iniquity.
Through Christ our Lord.
A: Amen.
Blessing
L: The Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and lead us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
L: Go in the peace of Christ.
A: Thanks be to God.
Conclude with a hymn. For instance:
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