Fire On Earth

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

We’re told in St. Luke, “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed. Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Luke 12:49-51).

Our Lord speaks about the divine zeal that He has for all souls. Just like any true friend, Our Lord reveals to the disciples His most intimate thoughts.

He tells them about this zeal: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it was already kindled!”

Our Lord has a holy impatience to ignite and offer His holocaust to the Father on Calvary for the sake of mankind: “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am constrained until it is accomplished.”

There on the Cross, the fullness of God's love for His creatures was made manifest: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). We prove that we are Christ's friends if we struggle to follow Him.

St. Augustine commented, “People who believe in him are enkindled. They receive the flame of charity. That is why the Holy Spirit appeared in this particular form at Pentecost: ‘There appeared to them tongues as a fire, distributed and resting on each one of them’ (Acts 2:3).

“Set aflame by this fire, the apostles set out across the entire world to inflame others, including their enemies.

“And what enemies did they have? Those who had forsaken God their Creator for the worship of man-made idols. The faith of such as these has been smothered to ashes. It is good for them so they be set alight by this holy flame so that they may once again shine forth in Christ's glory” (St. Augustine, Commentary on Psalm 97, Point 5).

The crucial task of setting the world on fire has been passed on to today’s Christians. This fire of love and peace will strengthen and purify souls.

And so, we have to go to the factories, to the universities, into public life, into our own homes.

Chiara Lubich, founder of Focolare, says, “If we were to set fires at different locations throughout a city, even if they were modest fires, they would quickly consume the whole metropolis.

“Likewise, if in a city, at its most varied points, one were to ignite the hearts of the inhabitants with the fire that Christ brought to the world, then the goodwill of those people would quickly overrun the city, lighting it up with love for God. The fire that Christ has brought to the world is himself. It is the fire of Love” (Chiara Lubich, Meditations).

This is one of the reasons why it's very good to spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, so that we can be infected by that fire of love.

“It is the love that not only unites souls to God but unites souls to one another. … In each city these souls shall emerge from families: father and mother, son and father, mother and mother-in-law.

“This phenomenon can take place in parish life, in organizations, in schools, in offices, anywhere. … Each small flame for God necessarily kindles other flames.

“Divine Providence takes care to distribute these souls on fire where they can best serve the process. Through their action, many places in the world will be restored to the warmth of the love of God and renewed hope” (Ibid.).

Our apostolate in the middle of the world should spread like a flame of peace. Each Christian who lives the faith seriously becomes a point of ignition at his or her place of work, among friends and acquaintances.

But this phenomenon will occur only when we make concrete the advice St. Paul gave to the Philippians: “Have this in mind among you, which was in Christ Jesus, for though he was by nature God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be clung to, but emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave, and being made like unto men, and appearing in the form of man, humbled himself, becoming obedient, obedient even unto death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5-8).

St. Pius XII said in Mediator Dei, “St. Paul challenges all Christians to live out in their lives, as much as possible, those sentiments which filled the Divine Redeemer when he offered himself up as a Sacrifice” (Pius XII, Encyclical, Mediator Dei, Point 81, November 20, 1947).

We are called to “imitate his humility and present to God Almighty all the adoration, honor, praise, and thanksgiving” of which we are capable (Ibid.).

This offering is carried out primarily in the Holy Mass, which is the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross.

In Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Council, it speaks about the contribution of this that has to be made by the laity:

“For all their works,” it says, “prayers, and apostolic endeavors, their ordinary married and family life, their daily occupations, their physical and mental relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even in the hardships of life, if patiently borne—all these become ‘spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’ (1 Pet. 2:5).

“Together with the offering of the Lord's body, they are most fittingly offered in the celebration of the Eucharist. As those everywhere who adore the holy activity, the laity consecrate the world itself to God” (Vatican II, Lumen gentium, Point 34, November 21, 1964).

Recently, here in Nairobi we had a work camp from some students of a school in Barcelona. Among those students there was one fellow who was an alumnus of that school, a little bit older than these guys—maybe he was 22, they were 17—but he had cancer and he had metastasis all over his body.

But he told his parents and his carers that he still wanted to come to this work camp in Kenya. He wanted to have the experience.

And one evening, in a get-together with all of these guys, he told his story. They didn't know that he had cancer. They didn't know that he had secondaries all over his body. He looked a bit thin, he didn't look too well, but they didn't know the full story.

Many of them were very impressed. Many wept that evening, shocked by this whole story.

The guy told me he had a conversation with this fellow, and this fellow asked him, ‘Do you think we will meet again? Maybe we won't.’

But that young fellow was approaching his death with great peace and serenity and calm, and also reaching out to these forty other young guys, more or less encouraging them in their faith, the great things we have to look forward to.

All of us at every age have to try and use all the opportunities that we have at our disposal to do apostolate: to help people to look up, to help them to realize the passing nature of this life, and to invite them to look at the more important issues; to use our time well, to do all the good we can while we have the light, while we have time; to make very good use of the formation that we have; to expose ourselves as much as possible to more formation; and to try and help and invite many other people around us to participate in that formation, so that they in their turn can help to spread the fire.

Christian life ought to be an imitation of the life of Christ, a participation in His divine Sonship. Through this way of life we will learn from Our Lord how to relate to other people, how to grow in our friendship and in our confidence, like that young fellow, opening our heart and letting down the drawbridge of that heart, so that people can see into our heart and see what is there that makes us tick.

And they begin to see—like those guys did, that that guy had something in his heart that they didn’t have—and so they begin to let down the drawbridge of their heart, and to want to obtain or to absorb those good things that are in the hearts of other people.

This is friendship. This is confidence.

When Our Lord saw the multitude, He had compassion on them, because they were “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). Life held no meaning for them.

Our Lord had compassion on these people. The love of Our Lord was so great that He went to the extent of giving up His life for them and for us on the Cross.

This is the divine love that should fill our hearts. Then we too will have compassion on the people around us, who perhaps have strayed from Our Lord.

With the help of God's grace and our genuine friendship, hopefully we will bring these souls back to the Master.

In the Mass, a surging current of divine love is transmitted from the Son to the Father through the Holy Spirit. The follower of Our Lord participates in this love, since he or she is incorporated in Christ.

The Christian then extends this love to other people, and to all earthly realities, which are thereby sanctified and made into a fitting offering to God.

Our apostolate should have its roots in the Mass, and should draw its efficacy from there, because

St. Josemaría in Friends of God says that Christ “came on earth to redeem everyone, because ‘he wished all men to be saved’ (1 Tim. 2:4). There is not a single soul in whom Christ is not interested. Each soul has cost him the price of his Blood” (Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 256).

If we truly imitate Our Lord's example, we can never be indifferent towards any soul, no matter who that soul may be. It might be the most important person in our company or organization, the most prestigious person in society or in our environment, or it could be the last beggar on the street. Every soul is important.

Our Lord dealt with everybody. He dealt with the Nicodemuses, the Josephs of Arimathea, people of influence, people who had material means that He could use, had access to things.

He also dealt with Bartimaeus the blind beggar, and the lepers, and so many other people. He was interested in everybody.

We can't limit our field of apostolate to a specific group, or a group of people that are easy to deal with, or that listen to us, or that give us their attention.

Our Lord, throughout the “net,” He was interested in all souls—easy souls and difficult souls, ones that are easy to bring and ones that you have to run after.

When we participate in the Mass, our prayers should be concerned, first of all, with our brothers and sisters in the faith.

The Christian should feel more and more closely united to them in the bread of life and in the cup of eternal salvation. This is the time to pray for everyone, and especially for those who are most in need.

Chiara Lubich, founder of Focolare, says we should grow in the spirit of charity and fraternity “because the Eucharist makes us all one. As a consequence, we treat one another as family. The Eucharist unites the children of God into one family closely related to Christ and to one another” (Chiara Lubich, The Eucharist).

If we follow this unique encounter with Our Lord, we'll experience the same joy as was felt by the sick in Palestine once they had been cured by Our Lord. They were so overjoyed at this manifestation of God's mercy that they went about all the towns and villages of Palestine singing Our Lord's praises.

When we receive Communion at Mass, we should be moved to share this wonderful grace with others. Each encounter with Our Lord brings with it this joy as well as the need to communicate it to other people.

That's how Christianity grew so quickly in its early years. It spread like a conflagration of peace and love which no one could extinguish.

Let us resolve to center our life upon the Holy Mass. Then we will find peace and serenity throughout the course of the day. We will want to let our friends know about the treasure of this sacrament.

In Christ is Passing By, St. Josemaría says, “If we attend Mass well, surely we are likely to think about Our Lord during the rest of the day, wanting to be always in his presence, ready to work as he worked and to love as he loved.

“And so we learn to thank Our Lord for his kindness in not limiting his presence to the time of the sacrifice of the altar. He has decided to stay with us in the Host which is reserved in the tabernacle” (J. Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, Point 154).

The tabernacle should be a Bethany for us, “a quiet and pleasant place where Christ resides. A place where we can tell him about our worries, our sufferings, our desires, and our joys with the same sort of simplicity and naturalness as Martha, Mary, and Lazarus” (Ibid.).

We will find in the tabernacle the strength we need to do Our Lord's work, in union with many other Christians.

Our Lord said, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it was already kindled!” This is the fire of divine love which will bring peace and joy to many souls, to families, and to society as a whole.

This desire to live as children of God has to be carried out in our ordinary life: at work, in the home, and among our friends, 24-7.

Every opportunity is an apostolic opportunity. St. Josemaría in The Way liked to cry out, “Souls! Apostolic souls! They are for you and for your glory” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 804).

At every hour of the day we should be striving to be men and women of faith who put that faith into practice, full-time Christians.

We can't confine our relationship with God to those few moments that we spend inside a church. We have to live out our friendship with God in the middle of the world, in our workplace, on the football field, at every party and social gathering that we may attend.

We have to reflect Christ's love in everything we do. That is what St. Paul said to the first Christians: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31)

St. Basil comments, “When you sit down at table, pray. When you eat your bread, give thanks to God who is so generous. If you have some wine, remember that he has created it to bring us merriment and comfort in affliction. When you are getting dressed, give thanks to the one who gave you these clothes.

“When you look up to the heavens and behold the beauty of the stars above, fall down at the feet of God and adore his infinite Wisdom that is manifest in all Creation. Do the same at sunrise and sunset, when you are asleep and when you are awake.

“Give thanks to the God who created all this wonder for your benefit, so that you might know, love, and praise his name” (St. Basil, Homilia in Julittam martyrem).

All noble realities of the world bring us to Him. That fire of love is something we have to spread all around us in all moments of the day.

When someone is in love, they think of their beloved twenty-four hours a day. This is the sort of love that we have to have for Jesus Christ.

Our apostolate is “the overflowing of our interior life” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 961), the overflowing of our love for Christ that leads us to look for souls as He did, and to find them.

Some souls, we have to look for them. It may be difficult to find. We have to go after them. We have to try and try again, like any fisherman casts his net or casts his line. He doesn't catch all the fish with the first effort.

This has to constitute the essence of our being, the driving force behind all our actions. If everything is not for the apostolate, then what's it for?

Our Lord is the only one we want to glorify through our work well done. He's our inspiration when we want to practice the social doctrine of the Church, when we try to improve the lot of every human person around us, promoting the dignity of every person, which is the word that's at the center of the whole of social teaching. All of us can have an impact in that area.

We have to bring into our prayers, What influence does God want me to have? What can I do? How can I be more effective in improving the lot of every person around me?

He wants us to strive to protect the environment. This all-embracing outlook leads every Christian to make an effort to be cordial and optimistic, to be punctual at work, to make good use of time, to overcome temptations to laziness.

I remember on the ward where I used to work, the head nurse, remarking on one particular nurse—she was leaving after many years of service—the head nurse was saying, ‘I never had to correct this nurse on any single occasion for being late for her work; she was always on time.’

It's a beautiful thing after a period of engagement in any organization for people to be able to say that about us.

If our love of God is authentic, it will shine out and be appreciable in every aspect of our existence.

We know and respect the legitimate autonomy of temporal affairs with respect to religion. There are no Catholic answers to society's problems per se. But we also recognize that Christians and Christianity belong in all facets of society as a leavening influence.

That explains why the apostolate is a spontaneous activity that emanates from Christians in every imaginable kind of circumstance. We always have something to contribute, something positive, something life-changing for many people.

The apostolate is nothing more than the outpouring of our love of God. It leads us to be daring, to look for select souls who can also pass on this message.

People who can be leaders, people who are virtuous, people who are hard-working—these are people who can understand what we have to tell them and can pass it on to others.

St. Luke tells us that Our Lord preached these words not only to His disciples but also to His bitterest critics. We’re told, “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this and they scoffed at him” (Luke 16:14).

We may find that similar things can be observed in our own time. “The Pharisees jeered at what Jesus was saying in order to justify their own attachment to material things.

“Some people can make fun of total commitment to God and detachment from material things, because they themselves are not ready to practice virtue. They cannot even imagine other people really having this generosity; they think that those other people must have ulterior motives” (The Navarre Bible, Note to Luke 16:13-14).

Our Lord didn't hesitate to denounce the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts,” we're told.

“For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). Our Lord uses very strong terms to denounce the conduct of the Pharisees.

We can ask Our Lady, that she might teach us to live entirely for God's glory. She who is the Queen of Apostles will help us and teach us to be more effective apostles all the time, so that we spread that fire in ever more effective ways.

St. Josemaría in The Forge, Point 749, says, “Don't ever lose the supernatural point of view. Correct your intention as the course of a ship is corrected on the high seas: by looking at the star, by looking at Mary. Then you will always be sure of reaching harbor.”

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

UI