From now on a household of five will be divided

24 OCTOBER (Lk 12,49-53)

There is a big difference between the Word of God addressed to his people through the prophet Jeremiah, and one addressed to the world today by Christ the Lord. The Lord through Jeremiah promises the sword for his people. However, it is a sword of punishment, the result of the sin of the children of Israel. It is a sword of destruction, exile, loss of the personal freedom and even of life for many. Sin always produces swords of death and exile, swords of destruction and ruin, swords of loneliness and loss of all good.

The Lord said to me: Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them away from me. If they ask you where they should go, tell them, Thus says the Lord: Whoever is marked for death, to death; whoever is marked for the sword, to the sword; whoever is marked for famine, to famine; whoever is marked for captivity, to captivity. Four kinds of scourge I have decreed against them, says the Lord: the sword to slay them; dogs to drag them about; the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy them. And I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

Who will pity you, Jerusalem, who will console you? Who will stop to ask about your welfare? You have disowned me, says the Lord, turned your back upon me; And so I stretched out my hand to destroy you, I was weary of sparing you. I winnowed them with the fan in every city gate. I destroyed my people through bereavement; they returned not from their evil ways. Their widows were more numerous before me than the sands of the sea. I brought against the mother of youths the spoiler at midday; Suddenly I struck her with anguish and terror. The mother of seven swoons away, gasping out her life; Her sun sets in full day, she is disgraced, despairing. Their survivors I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the Lord (Jer 15,1-9).
The sword of Jesus instead is his Word, which divides good and evil, justice and injustice, sin and holiness, truth and falsehood. The Letter to the Hebrews proclaims the mystery of the Word of the Lord, presenting it sharper than any two-edged sword.

Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. (Heb 4,12-13).

Jesus announces another very great mystery. The division caused by the sword of his word is true separation between the two realms: that of the prince of this world and that of his Father. Never between these two realms might there reign agreement, communion and unity. They are antithetical and opposite as light and darkness. Where light reigns darkness is dispelled. But where darkness reigns there is total absence of light.

“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; 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.”

Kingdom of God and kingdom of Satan can live together in the same house, same family, same community and in same Church of Christ the Lord. Where there is man, there is the kingdom of God and that of Satan, there. Who chooses and lives according to the Word of Jesus is the kingdom of God. Who chooses and lives according to the word of Satan is Satan’s kingdom. It is the choice that puts father and son in contrast, in division, in the same house, the same family and the nucleus. It is the choice of Christ, that will always put men in opposition one to the other. The Christian is called to be a witness of the goodness in the truth of Jesus Christ on earth. He must be true light that shines in the darkness. He is called to unlock the secrets of darkness, showing the essence of true light.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us true light in the Lord.