Remember
when we were kids and we had a special secret that we wanted to share with one
of our best friends? We would make sure that they would keep the secret
before we started to reveal what it was. Jesus was like that too. He had
some best friends that he shared things with and some of the things really
confused them because they thought that He would lways be with them. One of the
things that really confused them was when He mentioned that He would be handed
over to the High Priest and crucified. That must have been a real shocker –
they could not just comprehend that!
Another instance for His zeal for souls is when He tells them that He “came to cast fire upon the earth and would that it were already kindled”. He has a holy impatience to explode with this love and offer Himself as a holocaust to His Father with this burning desire on the cross for the sake of you and . He is like a bush of tinder just waiting for the spark that will enkindle Him onto His eternal wish – to show us that no one has greater love for another unless that man lay down his life for another. Again His apostles were amazed as what they heard. We know after centuries of study that he was telling us what He would do for us. Lay down His life for our salvation. And then He tells us to follow Him, just like the Apostles
Think of John Paul II, think of Mother Theresa, Padre Pio. Just a few people of our last couple generations. Think of this. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, what sign did He give? Fire! We always associate fire with the love of God and the love of the Blessed Lady. The fire of His divine Heart is there to inflame us, if you will, so we will go and do likewise in the world. The fire of divine Love was given to the Apostles and to many who would carry it and ignite the rest of the world as His Apostles in the pagan world. Look and see just what twelve persons did since the beginnings of Christianity The Church today is over 800,000,000 strong – we find catholic churches on all the continents with millions of believers sharing in that love of Christ and His mother.
Over enemies within and without, this love of God still continues to work for the salvation of souls like yours and mine, trying to bring all souls to Him in heaven, even those who have forsaken Him for the worship of some idols, whether it is power, money, fame or human respect.
We might ask ourselves “ Where is this tremendous fire in today’s world?” It is there, but just like the Apostle we have to be shaken up a bit to realize what that Love can do for and to us. Remember a little Iris h girl named Edel Quinn, a gentleman named Frank Duff? Why did that fire ignite them and has not yet driven our souls for the same reason?
Probably they did not have the same fear as we might have of the love of God because when they loved they were not afraid to give everything they had to their Beloved. Maybe they loved more to be loved in return and have that fire burst into flame for the souls of mankind. Think how great it would be if each would start a small fire in our family, our organizations, our neighborhood, our town. What a great thing that would be,
What would it take to get such a fire going? Remember when Jesus ascended into heaven.
He gave us one last instruction: Go and preach the Gospel and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But we have to take that seriously. We are in an organization that really has to take that seriously. Our Apostolate should spread like wildfire if each Christian who lives in Faith seriously becomes a point of ignition at his or her family, workplace, among friends and acquaintances. Now for most of us we try hard, but maybe if we listen to St Paul we might find it a little easier to do just what Jesus and Mary want us to do. This we can do in the Mass and try to get that fire ignited. Maybe our problem is that His secret that was given to us is just kept a good secret from the rest of the world. I don’t think He intended to keep the secret secret.
©2009 Fr. Louis Schlangen
Another instance for His zeal for souls is when He tells them that He “came to cast fire upon the earth and would that it were already kindled”. He has a holy impatience to explode with this love and offer Himself as a holocaust to His Father with this burning desire on the cross for the sake of you and . He is like a bush of tinder just waiting for the spark that will enkindle Him onto His eternal wish – to show us that no one has greater love for another unless that man lay down his life for another. Again His apostles were amazed as what they heard. We know after centuries of study that he was telling us what He would do for us. Lay down His life for our salvation. And then He tells us to follow Him, just like the Apostles
Think of John Paul II, think of Mother Theresa, Padre Pio. Just a few people of our last couple generations. Think of this. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, what sign did He give? Fire! We always associate fire with the love of God and the love of the Blessed Lady. The fire of His divine Heart is there to inflame us, if you will, so we will go and do likewise in the world. The fire of divine Love was given to the Apostles and to many who would carry it and ignite the rest of the world as His Apostles in the pagan world. Look and see just what twelve persons did since the beginnings of Christianity The Church today is over 800,000,000 strong – we find catholic churches on all the continents with millions of believers sharing in that love of Christ and His mother.
Over enemies within and without, this love of God still continues to work for the salvation of souls like yours and mine, trying to bring all souls to Him in heaven, even those who have forsaken Him for the worship of some idols, whether it is power, money, fame or human respect.
We might ask ourselves “ Where is this tremendous fire in today’s world?” It is there, but just like the Apostle we have to be shaken up a bit to realize what that Love can do for and to us. Remember a little Iris h girl named Edel Quinn, a gentleman named Frank Duff? Why did that fire ignite them and has not yet driven our souls for the same reason?
Probably they did not have the same fear as we might have of the love of God because when they loved they were not afraid to give everything they had to their Beloved. Maybe they loved more to be loved in return and have that fire burst into flame for the souls of mankind. Think how great it would be if each would start a small fire in our family, our organizations, our neighborhood, our town. What a great thing that would be,
What would it take to get such a fire going? Remember when Jesus ascended into heaven.
He gave us one last instruction: Go and preach the Gospel and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But we have to take that seriously. We are in an organization that really has to take that seriously. Our Apostolate should spread like wildfire if each Christian who lives in Faith seriously becomes a point of ignition at his or her family, workplace, among friends and acquaintances. Now for most of us we try hard, but maybe if we listen to St Paul we might find it a little easier to do just what Jesus and Mary want us to do. This we can do in the Mass and try to get that fire ignited. Maybe our problem is that His secret that was given to us is just kept a good secret from the rest of the world. I don’t think He intended to keep the secret secret.
©2009 Fr. Louis Schlangen