August 17, 2025

20^thSunday in Ordinary Time

To Be “In Sync” is to Be “in Peace”

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

Isaiah prophesized that the Messiah would be called the “Prince of Peace.” The choir of angels heralded the birth of our Savior singing “peace to his people on earth.” Yet in today’s Gospel the Lord speaks not of peace but of division. It doesn’t seem to fit our image of Jesus who taught “blessed are the peacemakers” and who said to his apostles, “Peace be with you.” It is interesting that this disconcerting passage would be included in the Gospel of Saint Luke, who has been called “Scriba mansuetudinis Christi”—"the writer of the sweetness of Christ.” How are we to understand, how can we make sense of this apparent contradiction?
 
Our Lord is indeed the Prince of Peace but his is not the external peace devised or proposed by the world. It is not the absence of difficulties or of life’s crosses. Jesus had little external peace during his public life. He faced scorn and rejection, which brought him to the cross. Yet, throughout it all, he possessed an interior peace because he was always in communion with his Father.
 
This is the peace Jesus offers us, an interior peace that grows out of a life that is in harmony with God’s will, which comes from aligning our lives with the Gospel, from being ‘in sync’ with all that God wants of us. No easy task!
 
Jesus warns us that his disciples would be misunderstood, opposed, and rejected, even within their own families. Disciples can expect to be out of favor and unpopular. Consider Jeremiah, the subject of our first reading who was lowered into a muddy cistern for his fidelity to God. Christianity is counter cultural. It involves going against those trends of our culture that appear so good, obvious, and logical.
 
Pope Benedict observed that “we have lost the sense that Christians cannot live just like everybody else.” But isn’t that what we try so hard to do?
 
We want to blend in so not to appear out of date, old fashioned, or a relic of the past. We accommodate ourselves to whatever is popular at the moment and embrace positions that are contrary to the Gospel and the teachings of our Church. Sometimes we remain silent for fear of being ridiculed.
 
In the same passage, the Lord uses the image of fire. St. Luke tells us that at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in tongues of fire, a fire that was transformative, a fire that made them courageous and zealous for the faith. We received the same Spirit at our personal Pentecost—the sacrament of Confirmation. 

Lord Jesus              
 
This world is ever-changing, and changing so quickly. So many messages besiege me—online, in conversations, in the news. Some are loud, persuasive, popular, and yes, so overwhelming. Help me to discern what is good, right, and true. Let your word be the lens through which I can judge what I see and hear. Let me be grounded in your unchanging truth and not tossed about by every trend or idea. Help me to face misunderstandings or criticism with the courage your Spirit gives. Help me to enter that peace which consists in having put my life in your hands. Amen