Reflections on Luke 12:49-53

This Gospel passage is so difficult that it has taken more than a week's reflection to find some light. Sacred Scripture is the living word of God and can give us new insights each time we read the same passage. This one has always been troubling.... Why would Jesus be the cause of division among us? I think that many of his followers today feel the pain of that division, especially in their own families, just as Jesus predicted. How many grandparents and parents are saddened as they see their children and grandchildren build their lives on totally different principles than what they tried to pass on to them. Everything we learned as the Catholic way of life is questioned and many things we thought carved in stone are repudiated publicly by famous Catholics. It works the other way, also. If a child has a real encounter with Christ and wishes to lead a radical and witnessing Christian life it is sometimes their own parents who chide them as "becoming fanatic" and suggest that they compromise and become "normal". The Holy Father speaks often of an encounter with Christ. It is this deeper knowledge and prayerful contemplation of Jesus that changes lives. I suggest that this type of division be met with love and prayer. God's grace touches us as individuals and we grow in a particular way according to a very personal timetable. Here love is primary. Jesus rejected no one. His mother is mother to all the children he commended to her care and will bring will heal the divisions as she leads all to her Son.