I CAME TO BRING FIRE

XV SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_disciples_c
hosen_and_sent_out.jpg
Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them

out two by two

and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but
a walking stick no food, no sack, no money in their
belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a
second tunic.
He said to them, Wherever you enter a house, stay
there until you leave. Whatever place does not
welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the
dust off your feet in testimony against them.
So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve
drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil
many who were sick and cured them (Mk 6:7-13).
I. TIP FOR PRAYER: HUMILITY AND PRAYER

"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or

the requesting of good things from God" (St. John
Damascene). But when we pray, do we speak from the
height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a
humble and contrite heart? (Ps 130:1) He who humbles
himself will be exalted (Cf. Lk 18:9-14); humility is the
foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly
acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we
ought" (Rom 8:26), are we ready to receive freely the
gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."
Jesus made that unforgettable parable for explaining
who will be here in his prayer: He also told this parable
to some who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and regarded others with contempt: Two
men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and
the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by
himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am
not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or
even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a
tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing
far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was
beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me,
a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home
justified rather than the other; for all who exalt
themselves will be humbled, but all who humble
themselves will be exalted (Lk 18:9-14).
Talking about prayer is very important to understand
that as the foundation of the entire edifice is
humility, the nearer we come to God, the greater
must be the progress which we make in this virtue:
otherwise, we lose everything. (Saint Teresa of Avila.
Life, c.12)
II. JESUS SEND THEM WITH AUTHORITY
Jesus sent the Apostles as he sends us today to
announce the Kingdom of God, to proclaim the
presence and work of God in human history, in my
story. Jesus said to them, Peace be with you. As the
Father has sent me, so I send you (Jn 20:21). The
announcement of the Gospel is the proclamation of the
proximity of the Kingdom of God: The Kingdom of God
is at hand, is the Good News of God himself, his power
and his love wanting to come into our lives, into our

hearts bringing transformation, healing, peace and

newness to our hearts and relationships.
The announcement of the Kingdom of Heaven is
accompanied by signs that manifest the power of God.
The kingdom of God takes away unclean spirits Jesus
gave his disciples the authority and so the power to
cast out evil spirits and to heal. The Gospel is about the
power of God acting for healing, for saving: For I am
not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who has faith (Rm 1:16). The
Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy
the works of the devil. (1 Jn 2:8)
All the concretes instructions about poverty are more
oriented to the disposition of the messenger than to
express concrete rules. Because the announcement has
to be united to a way of living that means confidence in
the Providence of God. They cannot announce if they
are attached to material things. Poverty help the
messenger to do not rely on oneself nor on the human
means, and also keep the messenger aware that he
goes in the name of other and that he has to rely only
in Him.
Poverty is a sign of the richness of the Kingdom, is the
pearl and the treasure that who finds it full of joy sell
everything for possessing the treasure: Jesus. I regard
everything as loss because of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have
suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as
rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (Phil 3:8).
They have to give free what they are receiving free. All
the preaching is about the grace of God, his action; his
Holy Spirit and its fruits. They as us announce what we
have received free, gratis, pure Mercy.
III. THEY WENT OFF AND PREACHED REPENTANCE
It seems that the preaching was not too long: So they
went off and preached repentance (Mk 6:12). Why that
need of repentance, of conversion?
The miracles and all the other works are subordinate to
the call to repent, to convert, o turn wholehearted to
God.

Even the urgency is such that without it cannot be

salvation. I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all
perish (Lk 13:3, 5).
The proclamation of the "Good News" that resonates for
the first time in Galilee, shaking the heart of man,
inexorably demanding a radical transformation, for
making room to the unheard, the unexpected; God
offers us freely the Kingdom of God: "convert and
believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1: 15.).
This divine offer requires a total human emptiness of
the protective, selfish, self-centered and fearful ego. We
need to give up our own mercantilist categories, to
transcend our human reasonable possibilities, to settle
in a new order of absolute surprise for our intelligence
and prudence. God brings to us his gift in the person
and message of his Son.
The message is simple: turn to me your God and my
love for you; I am here at hand, I am the one who
comes, I am wanting to fulfill your heart with my
delightful and divine gifts; but for that you need to
change our mind, stop thinking in me as an enemy, as
a controller, as a punisher: You who once were
alienated and hostile in mind to God because of evil
deeds he has now reconciled in his fleshly body
through his death, to present you holy, without
blemish, and irreproachable before him. (Col 1:21-22)
Conversion is also the constant work of prayer. Turning
to him, to his love, power, tenderness with hope and
confidence; so he can come in us and renew our hearts:
If you turn to him with all your heart and with all your
soul, to do what is true before him, then he will turn to
you and will not hide his face from you. And you will
see what he will do with you, and you will give thanks
with your whole mouth, and praise the Lord of might,
and extol the everlasting King (Tb 13:10-31)
Turning to God means leaving aside what is contrary to
God, to his Kingdom, the thoughts desires and acts that
are selfish; therefore everything that do not let me to
be his beloved child and love Him.
IV. JESUS I WANT TO PREACH YOU WITH MY LIFE

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Jah
Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance
everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Life. Penetrate and
possess my whole being so utterly that my life may
only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I
come in contact with may feel Your presence in my
soul.
Let then look up, and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as You shine,
so as to shine as to be a light to others.
The light, o Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be
mine.
It will be You, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You in the way You love best, by
shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but
by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic
influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love
my heart bears for You. Amen. (Blessed Card. John
Henry Newman)