WHAT LOYALTY TO CHRIST ENTAILS

V/​ I will turn to you O God, 

R/​ to God who gives joy to my youth

V/​ Give me the Wisdom that sits by your throne; 

R/ that I may be counted among your children

Lord, in your all-providential plan, you have led me to this moment to rediscover me in your Word and Wisdom. Aid me to make this time of meditation and prayer enriching, transforming, and liberating for my well-being and others. Amen!

WHAT LOYALTY TO CHRIST ENTAILS

By Lucinda M. Vardey

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Jeremiah 38: 4-6, 8-10.  Psalm 40(39): 2-4, 78; Hebrews 12: 1-4; Luke 12: 49-53

Sunday 17th August 2025

Jesus has been likened to the prophet Jeremiah for the suffering they both underwent, in their fiery zeal to bring the people back to God. Many similarities can be found in their ministries. In these readings, Jeremiah is imprisoned in a cistern and eventually drawn out. Jesus was imprisoned in a pit in Caiaphas’ house the night before his crucifixion.

Paul tells us that Jesus is “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” The way Jesus suffered this shameful death was, in itself, a teaching that in all suffering, we must not grow weary or lose heart.

The psalmist offers gratitude for “waiting patiently for the Lord” and for putting a new song of praise and trust in God in one’s mouth. What seems incongruous is that delight and joy are the states in which these extreme sufferings were endured. We are told that joy is the result of doing the will of God.

Patience is indeed key, and as Saint Catherine of Siena explained, patience is the virtue that enables us to endure affliction without complaint, perseverance being the companion that sees us through. Saint Catherine defined her true nature as “fire”, being the nature of God in her. Just so, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus announces that he is bringing fire to earth, which will cause divisions in households.

How much we have seen these prophetic words come to life! Jesus perhaps was alluding to the impossibility of a serene, harmonious life when a matter of loyalty to him arises; that, discord in families cannot be avoided, especially as regards faith. With Catholic traditions of prayer, liturgy, and the cultures of faith-filled homes seeming forever lost to the young, this is rather afflicting for so many grandparents, for their children and grandchildren who don’t go to Church and participate in the sacraments.

Recently, my sister-in-law, to have her grandchildren baptised, suffered disappointment and anguish when her son was too busy to talk with a priest about it, and had lapsed himself from going to Church. A Carmelite friar advised her to remain joyful and hopeful, not to worry and to keep them all in prayer. Six months later, her son, of his own volition, had his two children baptised.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross’s prayer to the Holy Spirit might offer some insights on the transformation tenable in patiently aligning with the Spirit’s direction; she says:

Are you the ray –

That flashes down from the eternal Judge’s throne

And breaks into the night of the soul –

that had never known itself?

Holy Spirit–ray that penetrates everything!

Are you the sweet song of love

And of holy awe

That eternally resounds around the Triune throne,

That weds in itself the clear chimes of each and every being?

The harmony

That joins together the members to the Head,

In which each one finds the mysterious meaning of being blessed

And joyously surges forth,

Freely dissolved in your surging:

Holy Spirit–eternal jubilation!

Come, Holy Spirit and enkindle the unquenchable fire of love.