“I have come to set the earth on fire”
Jesus says that He has come to set the earth on fire in today’s Gospel reading.
What does “fire” represent? The Catechism says, “Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit’s actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who ‘arose like fire’ and whose ‘word burned like a torch,’ brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a ‘figure’ of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes ‘before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah,’ proclaims Christ as the one who ‘will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.’ Jesus will say of the Spirit: ‘I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!’ In the form of tongues ‘as of fire,’ the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit’s actions. ‘Do not quench the Spirit.’”[i] Why is it that an individual tongue of fire appears over the head of each apostle and Our Lady? This fire of the Holy Spirit is not given collectively, to the group, but rather to the individual soul. There is not one large blast of fire over the whole room, but rather, individual tongues of fire.
What is this “fire” Jesus wishes to set? Jesus wishes to set God’s burning love within each of man’s hearts. “In the Bible, fire is often used to describe God’s burning love for men (cf. Deut. 4:24; Ex. 13:22, etc). This divine love finds its highest expression in the Son of God become man: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’ (Jn 3:16)”[ii] Many times we speak of passion as being “on fire” about something. Love in Greek has three words. Eros or passion. Philio or brotherly love (friendship). Agape or sacrificial love, to lay down your life for a friend. We typically think of the “fire” of love as being passion, but to truly be “on fire” for the one you love is to not just have a passion, but to be willing to sacrifice.
How does Jesus show His burning fire? Jesus’ whole mission on earth is His desire to set the world ablaze. “The desire to embrace his Father’s plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus’ whole life, for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his Incarnation.”[iii] This desire of true love for the Father and us is what led Him to be crucified. He had this desire also even to the very end when He said, “I thirst.” (Jn. 19:28) What did He thirst for? He thirsted for each soul, and that each soul would join Him in His death through the Sacrament of baptism.
How does Jesus’s death and our baptism bring about unity? “Jesus voluntarily gave up his life out of love for us, and ‘greater love has no man than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends’ (Jn. 15:13). He calls his death a baptism, because from it he will arise victorious never to die again. Our Baptism is a submersion in Christ’s death, in which we die to sin and are reborn to the new life of grace: ‘we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life’ (Rom. 6:4)”[iv]
How does baptism set us for a burning desire for God? When we realize Satan has no hold over us anymore. When we realize we are children of the one true God and the Church that He established is our mother and takes care of us we should have such a joy that it will make us to incredible things! “Through this new life, we Christians should become set on fire in the same way as Jesus set his disciples on fire: ‘With the amazing naturalness of the things of God, the contemplative soul is filled with apostolic zeal. ‘My heart became hot within me, fire blazed forth from my thoughts’ (Ps. 38:4). What could this fire be if not the fire that Christ talks about: ‘I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled.’ (Lk. 12:49). An apostolic fire that acquires its strength in prayer: there is no better way than this to carry on, throughout the whole world, the battle of peace to which every Christian is called to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Col. 1:24)’”[v]
ACTIVITY – Set Afire
In a dark room or even outside a night simply have one person holding a candle lit or a flashlight on. Have a group of people small or large holding unlit candles. The one person will begin to light one candle and then that person will “share” the fire or the flame with people around them. If you have flashlights, have the first person tap the person’s flashlight next to them. They will turn there’s on and then tap another person’s flashlight. After all candles are lit (or flashlights are on), and the room is illuminated a few questions can be asked. Did the person that originally had the flame lose any fire or energy by giving? No. When we are on fire for God, we do not lose in giving, but only gain. What happens the more people give? The light and energy from the light grows stronger and benefits all, since more can be seen. We should not be afraid to share the fire of God, because we lose nothing, and all gain everything. What is the nature of fire? The nature of fire is to multiply, illumine, and consume, and so to the nature of charity is to multiply, illumine, and consume. The fire of God illumine us to our sin and then if we allow it, it will consume our sin. In most monasteries the sign of peace at Mass is first uttered by the priest or abbot who offers the “peace of Christ”. He then gives the peace of Christ to a fellow priest, deacon, or minister in the sanctuary. That priest, deacon, or minister then come down into the choir, where the other monk are and offers the peace of Christ to the first monk, who in turn offers it to the next and when all the monks have given the sign of peace the last monk will offer the sign of peace to the congregation who will in turn offer the sign of peace to each other. This peace flows from the priest “in persona Christi” down to the monks and then to the whole congregation like a row of dominos. This practice of giving the sign of peace is more true to the lighting of candles where the light is passed from one candle in progression to the next. Just as we pass the “fire of God” we also pass the “peace of Christ” a peace that ironically comes with fire.
How do we accomplish Jesus’ desire to set the earth on fire? As Saint Catherine of Siena has said, “If you are who you should be you will set the world a blaze!” To do this we must be pure of heart, and truly seeking to do God’s will and not our own. “…But for this struggle to be legitimate and holy, no human or person motive or purpose should be mixed with it; it should be roused only by that fire of love Jesus came to cast upon the earth, with the sole purpose of blazing everywhere for the glory of the Father and the salvation of men. Because of this fire of love Jesus anxiously desired the bloody baptism of his passion; because of this fire of love the Christian must be prepared to resist even the persons who are dearest to him, even to separating himself from them, if they impede his professing his faith or carrying out his vocation or accomplishing God’s will.”[vi]
Jesus, through His death offers Himself as a bloody sacrifice, a bloody baptism. He offers the Christian however an unbloody Sacrifice in the Eucharist (cf. Malachi 1:11) and an unbloody baptism in the Sacrament of Baptism. Our own baptism is unbloody and our participation in the Sacrifice of the Mass is unbloody, but both if lived will mean martyrdom. This martyrdom could be a red martyrdom (bloody) or a white martyrdom (unbloody), but eithers way we are obligated to die to self and to live in, with, and through Christ Jesus.
[i] CCC 696
[ii] Navarre Bible pg. 159
[iii] CCC 607
[iv] Navarre Bible pg. 159
[v] Navarre Bible pg. 159
[vi] Gabriel, Divine Intimacy vol. III, pg. 214-215