THE PROPHET.
August 14, 2022.
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - C.
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it
were already blazing!” Lk 12:49
A Scottish Gaelic proverb says: “The good speech of an ass
is better than the bad word of a prophet.” And a Yiddish proverb adds: “The
complete fool is half prophet.”
The prophet is not a man of compromission or someone who
jeopardizes his convictions for interests, but a man of contradiction. His
words, his actions, and even his presence oppose the way of others. He is
someone whose words burn like fire and whose actions cut like a sword. And for
that, he is hated, persecuted, rejected, and wanted dead.
By our Baptism, we are called to be prophets. So, invested
with the mission to be the salt and light of the world. Does the salt
compromise or adjust itself to the taste of the food? Is it not it that rather
gives savor and taste when a meal seems insipid? Does the light adjust itself
to the darkness? Does it not rather bring to clarity all that is obscure and
hidden? Thus, our mission in the world. To be anti-conformists. And for the
fulfillment of that mission, we need fortitude amidst adversities.
The Catechism says, “Fortitude is the moral virtue that
ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It
strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in
moral life. the virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of
death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce
and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my
strength and my song." "In the world you have tribulation; but be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world."” CCC 1808.
One beautiful message from today's readings is about the
prophet as a man of contradiction and division, a man who fights for a just
cause and is ready to suffer and die for the cause. Jeremiah in the first
reading and Jesus in the Gospel are the right prototypes.
In the first reading, the Prophet Jeremiah is presented as a
man of strife and contention to all the Land. His enemies, therefore, conspired
against him and have him thrown into a muddy cistern in order to do away with
his prophetic visions that put them uneasy. But the Lord did not forsake his
messenger. Thus, Ebed-melech, one of the court officials will intercede in
front of the king for his life. The Lord, through him, came to rescue his
Prophet.
In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of himself as a man of
contradiction, one who brings about fire and division. It sounds quite hard to
hear the Lord saying: "Do you think that I have come to establish peace on
the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." He started with another
strong affirmation: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it
were already blazing!"
His words of preaching, his actions and miracles, and even
his life will set the world on fire. It will consume everything evil around and
give no room for evildoers to stand their ground.
By choosing to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, we also
have to be like him, people whose presence consumes every evil around us. We
are urged to defeat evil by good. But evildoers will not stand still and actionless
when we will be opposing them. Therefore, they will be war, battles, and
divisions between good and bad. And the Lord says that this will even start at
home, in the household: "a father will be divided against his son and a
son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against
her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law.”
Life is a battle toward holiness. In this race, as says the
Catechism, one needs fortitude, perseverance, and courage. Because we will be
brought sometimes to oppose people who not only are closed to us but also dear
to us: Father, mother, son, daughter...
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