"Choosing Jesus Over All" - 20th Sunday Homily by Deacon Ted

Today's Gospel is rather startling to hear the words of Jesus speaking like we'd not expect Him to Talking about bringing fire and blazing and not peace, but division is His

mission.

So it gives us pause to stop and say, is this the same Jesus speaking that spoke about peace?

Who walked about the world healing people?

About being kind and loving and feeding those in need?

Is this the same Jesus that is now saying, I'm not here for that.

I'm here to bring division.

The answer is yes, it is.

He's getting near the end of His journey.

He's starting to speak plainly to his disciples and He wants them to understand what's going to happen.

Because not only is Jesus going to bring division, but they're going to carry the mission of making division after He's gone.

What is this division that He brings?

Well, first off,

Jesus speaks about following Him.

Right?

We always hear him say, come follow me.

Well, in order for somebody to follow him, He must turn away from something else.

So think in a family, your family.

Your son says to you and you're the father or the mother, I'm leaving to follow Jesus.

I'm not going to be here anymore to be with you, to help you.

I'm leaving to follow Jesus.

How do you think that message is received by his parents?

Do you think they say, oh great son, go with our blessing?

Or do they say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

We have work to do.

We have things to accomplish.

You have chores in this family.

If you leave, who's going to do them?

And immediately the division begins.

Has that ever happened in any of your families?

Well, could do the flip side.

The whole family is followers of Jesus.

And you have a child who decides, that church is not for me anymore.

I'm not going to church.

I'm not going to do those things.

That's your religion, not mine.

Ever hear those words?

And how does that make the family?

Does that bring peace and love or division?

Because everywhere that you have a believer, their mission is to get closer to Jesus.

And their mission, the believer's mission, is to bring others to Jesus.

And so anytime there's a separation of that mission,

Anytime there is an interruption of that mission, there comes division.

Because God's love is the fire that Jesus is talking about.

The love of God He put into each of us.

When we first hear the call, the spark ignites in our heart.

And as we become more and more knowledgeable about the ways of Jesus and want to be closer to him, that fire starts to burn more brightly.

And as we move closer to being with Jesus, it starts really blazing.

And at that time, you can't help but ask others to come join you in the light of that fire.

And the fire spreads.

And this is how Catholicism grew.

And was it easy?

No, it wasn't easy.

So in the second reading, Paul talks about the race.

He talks about entering the arena and how the athletes must be prepared.

And we as Catholics are no different.

We must be prepared for the mission.

That means we must be well-formed.

That means we must be well-educated.

in what is and is not the ways of God.

Because we are going to be in a race with others that do not understand what God wants.

and we are racing to be with Jesus.

And how do we do that?

How does an athlete grow?

Just one day you're a young man and you walk a young woman and you walk into the arena and say, want to compete.

Well, not really.

Any sport, anything that you've to be good at, any professional anything, you have to train, you have to prepare.

There are certain gates you have to pass.

We call those sacraments.

Baptism brings you to fire.

The Eucharist feeds you to give you strength for the journey.

Confirmation, the Holy Spirit comes upon you and says you are now ready and you as a person of sound judgment make up your own mind to follow Jesus.

or you're an adult and you come into the faith through OCIA, you make the sacraments and you profess your faith and that you are going to live in the faith.

You've made that commitment.

and along the way you're going to need training, additional training.

You're going to need to know that on a racetrack for instance, sometimes you take the inside lane and sometimes you take the outside lane.

Why?

Because of the way the car brakes and the speed and how to get past others.

But you wouldn't know that by instinct.

in the army.

They teach you to run and jump, pull up, sit up, throw a sock up.

No, they just, they teach you to be physically fit.

And along the way, you, as they're training you, are thinking, this is dumb.

What does this have to do with anything?

And then one day, all of a sudden, your body moves as it's supposed to move, and you go through the drills that you're supposed to do flawlessly.

painlessly.

Why?

Because you were ready.

Every muscle in your body was prepared to take those moves.

something as simple as yoga or Tai Chi.

You're moving every muscle and stretching it because in unison together they're making that perfect muscle.

All of these things require training.

So once you get confirmed, you're not done.

Once you get confirmed, you're entering the realm of professionalism and its spirituality.

But now it's up to you.

It's up to you to read books.

It's up to you to watch good shows.

It's up to you to listen and go to seminars.

It's up to you to get better in your profession of being a Catholic.

And you are not alone.

St.

Paul says there is a crowd of witnesses around you to cheer you on in the stadium.

And that crowd of witnesses is all the saints in heaven that each and every one of us can call on to help us in our time of need.

And each saint is known for a different charism that they had and that they have now to help those in need.

So calling on those saints to help you will help you in your journey and make you more professional.

You're also not alone because you're not out there to do it on your own.

Sometimes even with AI and with all the technology we have and the information at our fingertips, you still need a person.

Someone who knows you, to listen to you, to hear you, and to help you with your individual needs.

You have that, you know that?

They're called coaches and you have them right here.

Father Vincent, Father Greg, myself.

That's part of our job is to help each and every one of you to make you better in your spirituality.

And we're not ashamed to do it and we're happy to do it.

Come, bring your challenges.

and let us grow together because in helping you, we also grow.

And so today I ask you to do two things.

One, let the fire burn.

Feed the fire.

Cause the earth to blaze.

And two, keep going forward in your training.

Read, study, watch, and get a coach.