As the Church observes the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jenny Kraska invites us to ponder what it means to cling to faith in a world that often feels like it’s burning down around us.
Hearing today’s Gospel can feel jarring. Jesus says, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” For many, this clashes with the image of Christ as the Prince of Peace, the reconciler who unites humanity with the Father. Yet, here He speaks of fire, separation, and discord.
The tension is real. Christ Himself was a “sign of contradiction,” as Simeon foretold in the Temple. His mission was rooted in God’s mercy and love, but that very love confronted sin and unmasked hypocrisy. The Gospel comforts the wounded but unsettles the comfortable. Following Jesus means stepping into this same mission. It means being ready, at times, to stand as a contradiction one that unsettles systems of injustice, exposes lies, and demands courage.
History gives us powerful witnesses of this truth. St. Thomas More chose fidelity to the Church over the king’s approval, even at the cost of his life. St. Oscar Romero stood with the poor and spoke truth to power, though it brought him martyrdom. Authentic holiness does not come without sacrifice, because truth always demands a price.
But Jesus is not glorifying conflict for its own sake. Division happens when His light pierces through the shadows of a broken world. Some embrace that light; others recoil. His Gospel calls us to make difficult choices between complacency and transformation, self-interest and self-giving love, shallow peace and the deeper peace that only God offers.
This week, the world remembers the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These tragedies ended a world war, but the cost in human suffering was beyond measure. They stand as stark reminders of humanity’s fractured pursuit of peace a peace often built on fear, vengeance, and destruction, rather than the vision God has for us. The tension Jesus speaks of in today’s Gospel is not abstract; it echoes through history.
Yet, out of even such devastation, Christ calls us to a peace born not of compromise with evil, but of conversion, justice, and the fire of the Spirit. His peace is resilient, demanding, and often misunderstood but it is real.
As disciples, we are called to be that contradiction in the world: bearers of light when darkness prevails, witnesses of love where hatred reigns, and voices of peace that refuse to bow to violence. To live this calling is not easy, but it is the way of Christ the way of a love stronger than death, and a peace that no war or conflict can destroy.