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. (Lk 12:49-53)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102325.cfm
The early Christian community preserved this distressing saying from the Lord because it reflected the real lived experience of communities that had passed through terrible persecution. Many early Christians lost their families of origin when they joined the church, and so they had to become family to one another. In the family of the church we still employ the terms they used for one another: father, mother, sister, brother. https://youtu.be/ZypKcB-w5VY?si=0VKT9pr-1Ww6Vp8I
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Thursday XXIX, Ordinary Time
