There are times we have to give up comfort

TODAY is Sunday, the 18th of August 2019. It is the 3rd

Sunday for the month and is the 20th Sunday in Ordinary

Time of the Catholic Church liturgical calendar.

This Sunday’s Psalm is,

“Lord, come to my aid.”

Today’s 1st Reading is from Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10.

Then the officials told the king, “This man should be put to death, because he is weakening the will of the fighting men and the people left in the city. In fact he is not out to save the people but to do harm.” King Zedekiah said, “His life is in your hands for the king has no power against you.” So they took Jeremiah and pushed him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, in the guard’s court. They lowered him by means of ropes. There was no water in the cistern but only mud; and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

Ebedmelech went and spoke to him, “My lord king! These men have acted wickedly in all they did to Jeremiah the prophet. They threw him into the cistern where he will die.”

So the king ordered Ebedmelech the Ethiopian: “Take three men with you from here, and draw Jeremiah the prophet out from the cistern before he dies.”

The second reading for this day is from Hebrews 12:114. It says:

What a crowd of innumerable witnesses surround us! So, let us be rid of every encumbrance, and especially of sin, to persevere in running the race marked out before us.

Let us look to Jesus, the founder of our faith, who will bring it to completion. For the sake of the joy reserved for him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and then, sat at the right of the throne of God. Think of Jesus, who suffered so many contradictions from evil people, and you will not be discouraged or grow weary. Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin?

Today’s Gospel is from Luke 12:49-53.

I have come to bring fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what anguish I feel until it is finished!

Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house five will be divided: three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-inlaw against her mother-in-law.”

READ: The first reading relates how Jeremiah was wrongly accused, lowered into the cistern to die, and was drawn out from the cistern. The Letter to the Hebrew invites us to look at Jesus who endured the cross and to think of his suffering so that we will not be discouraged. Luke speaks of Jesus to have undergone suffering and to have come to bring fire, the Holy Spirit.

REFLECT: Human life must have been ordered to include the elements of struggle, hardship, endurance, failure, success, and the like, The same is true with the Christian life, which comprises the dynamics pain, suffering, joy and glory. Having assumed a human form, Jesus will have to experience all these to accomplish his saving mission. He will have to put up with the disbelief and rejection of many. He will have to suffer and endure the pain of the cross before he ascends back to the Father in glory, and finally, to give the Holy Spirit. Jesus assures us of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that is why there is no point to be weary and disheartened in doing good. In working for justice and peace, in helping

the poor, and in caring for God’s creation. We may encounter resistance, and we may have to give up comfort in sharing with Christ mission. But, as he promised, we will also have to share with his glory.

NB: Our thanks to the Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc., publisher of the book Bible Diary 2019, where we source the Word of God that we are sharing to our fellow faithful on Sundays and other important Catholic commemorations.