Set the Earth on Fire

By Rev. Joseph McCloskey, S.J.

August 19, 2007

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. Hebrews 12:4

I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! Luke 12:49

Piety

God, as we live out our lives, help us to keep our eyes fixed on the present moment as we run the race you have put before us, by opposing sin and sinners. Strengthen our advocacy for those in need, so we can set the earth on fire with your love, even if we must carry our own cross as you did. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/081907.shtml

The Lord comes to our aid in unexpected ways. He will be just as happy as we are when we arrive to where we are going and find our coming is prepared for. Piety is all the ways we look for the Lord each day. Our faith is the richness of our experience of the God of our Present Moments. To be open to the unexpected and to be ready for what is coming is good planning at its best. Piety, Study and Action bring it all together.

There is enough of the student in all of us that we see the end of summer as a new beginning. Each day is precisely that when we buy into the Sacrament of the Present Moment. That all of our lives is a preparation for the day we are living would seem empty words if the Lord were not in our lives. It is the reality of our moment closest to Christ that it is always the moment we are in. How to come alive to what we are doing is what the moment closest to Christ does for us. We learn by looking over our day how the Lord was with us even in moments insignificant. The Hidden Life of Christ grace means that it is not what we are doing that is significant, but rather how we are giving ourselves away to others in the moment we are in. Each time we break the Christ code on the discovery of Christ with us right now, we enrich our spirituality with all the moments that come alive because they resemble what we have discovered in such a moment earlier that is like the moment we are in. In taking the deeper look at Christ that prayer makes possible, we uncover the meaning of subsequent moment in our lives. The moment closest to Christ that we share in our group reunions becomes the one we most noticed for what it was.

Cursillo Spirituality is built around our relationship to Christ. Our world is filled with people who have a terrible loneliness and a voracious need of making their lives worthwhile. What each year of our walk with Christ gives us is a greater awareness of how Christ is in our lives. The paradox of this walk is the realization that we can only hold unto Christ by giving him away. It is sharing Christ that allows us to grow in Christ. There are many forms of intimacy that build good friendships. But it is sharing Spiritual Intimacy that allows us to find Christ in special ways. Group reunion gives us the freedom to be open to Christ in each other. It deepens friendships. What leads our friends to Christ is the spiritual intimacy group nourishes. Friendship is a precious gift. The greatest of all friendships is possible when we share Christ with each other because such a friendship is unto eternal life.

Action

Make the new beginning of this year into a bringing Christ into all the encounters with others each day. Eduardo Bonin claimed about 20 group reunions each day because it was the expressed purpose of his spiritual life to share Christ with each person he met each day. Open your hearts to each person you meet this day. Wherever there is love, God is there.

Make that more than a truism in your life by the wonderful ways God gives us the chance to share his Son. The charism of Cursillo is the ease it brings to our sharing of Christ. Share Christ with all your friends and bring those who would appreciate it to Cursillo.