Offer love to everyone

WORD OF FAITH: A breakdown of each week's upcoming Sunday readings to better understand the Word of God at Mass.

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! — Luke 12:50

“Jesus said to his disciples: I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk. 12:49) The proclamation of the kingdom of God is a refining and purifying fire that ultimately consumes those who accept, as well as those who reject the message. The martyrs and saints of the Church found themselves consumed by the proclamation of the kingdom of God. They were continually being refined by the challenges that confronted them in their quest to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel message. The proclamation of the Gospel led many faithful witnesses to their own martyrdom. Not all saints were called to shed their blood for the cause of the kingdom, but nonetheless, they were called to a type of martyrdom known as a white martyrdom. This white martyrdom is our clothing ourselves in a white garment of baptism and living out our baptismal call by embracing the sufferings of the cross. It is in baptism where we die with Jesus Christ on the cross and rise with him to new life. Our own baptism calls us to share with that great cloud of witnesses in Jesus’ mission, the proclamation of the kingdom of God.

The Second Reading from the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Hebrews 12:1-4, tells us of this great cloud of witnesses who give us support. The cloud of witnesses are the martyrs and saints who through their intercession give us support. “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.” This great cloud of witnesses gathers with Jesus Christ, “who has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.” In the Catholic Mass, we join together with this great cloud of witnesses in the eternal Eucharistic banquet in Heaven where Jesus Christ presides as great high priest. Their support is felt in our own gathering together in the Mass. 

The challenge of faith is that we are continually being refined as the martyrs and saints. We are called to share a message that can cause division among people, even among our own family members. Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:49-53) It is not Jesus who divides, it is our rejection of Jesus that brings about division. The Scriptures for this Sunday challenge us to embrace the cross by sharing the transformative message of God’s love.

God challenged Jeremiah to share a message that called the leaders of Israel to transform their lives by turning away from sin and faithfully loving God. Jeremiah had to answer the challenge God gave him to share a prophetic word that would ultimately be rejected and would cause the leaders of Israel to plot against him. Jeremiah had to trust that God would save him from suffering and death. 

The Lord sent Jeremiah help through the court official Ebed-melech, who pleaded his cause before the king. Just as that court official was sent to help Jeremiah, we too are given help by the cloud of witnesses, and we too are sent to help others in need.

How can we help to proclaim the kingdom of God? Pope Leo XIV told us how we can help when he celebrated his first papal Mass. In that first Mass homily at St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV challenged the Church by saying that the Church is a mission and the Church’s mission is to be a missionary Church. What does it mean to be a missionary Church? It means to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel and to extend the love of God to all people. 

Pope Leo is urging all Christians to offer God’s love to everyone. The Holy Father is inviting us to embrace the core message of the Gospel: love. This is the message the martyrs and saints shared as they witnessed to their faith. At times that message of love and repentance made those who received the message uncomfortable because it calls people to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. Pope Leo knows that this same message of God’s transformative love still makes people uncomfortable, but nonetheless, it is still a message that must be proclaimed today. This is the mission we have been baptized into: to set the world spiritually on fire by sharing the transformative love of Christ with all humanity.