Divisions by Jesus: Daily Mass Homily--Thursday, October 24th, 2013 (CSS Sisters)

            I love readings like this because it gives me permission to preach fire and brimstone.  And I’ve wanted to tell all you sisters where to go for a while!  (By now I hope you recognize this is not the way I like to preach).

            But we do need to take seriously difficult passages such as our Gospel.  It is easy to preach peace, reconciliation or grace.  How much more difficult is it to ponder when Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.”  Indeed, it is Jesus speaking and we must take all of his words seriously.

            What Jesus is saying is that we will all face decisions that may cause division.  For instance, do I choose a sinful action that pleases me, or a more difficult action that pleases God?  We must divide sin from our souls because “the wages of sin is death”.

            This is a big issue among the young people I work with.  They must make choices on who their friends will be because these friends will influence them for better or worse.  Some need to be divided from sinful influences.

            We pray that we will allow God to cut the sin out of our lives and make choices today that divides us and our community from sin.