Daily Reflection for Thursday, October 20, 2022
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Thursday's readings at this link:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102022.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21
Responsorial: Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19
Gospel: Luke 12:49-53
Our reflection on Thursday’s readings:
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. (Luke 12:51)
I don’t get together too often with my siblings. We all live a distance from each other and old wounds that struggle to heal have kept some of us apart emotionally. Yet, when we do get together, we do our best to connect and relate with one another as we know we share a common heritage and family lineage.
When we are together, we know to stay within safe boundaries. We tiptoe through conversations that have political connotations and diverse religious perspectives to avoid offending one another. We find topics of commonality to keep the peace during our visits. As much as I dream of a time where we all can sit at the table and share radical views with openness and without judgement, this is very tough to do and not our current reality. Yet we know in our own way that we are family and that there will always be a place at the table for each of us.
I reflect on the reality of our family dynamics as I reflect on the Gospel reading today. Jesus tells us He did not “come to establish peace on the earth, but rather division.” Jesus understood the human condition so well and was showing us a new way to be human: a way grounded in love, forgiveness, and nonviolence. This was such a radical message during His time and perhaps radical in our own present reality. These are basic Gospel values that Jesus, to this day, invites us to understand and to live.
I read Jesus’ message today as it connects to my own family story. The text, for me, is an invitation to live the Gospel values that Jesus teaches us every day. Gospel values that ground our desire to not let go of the seat at the family table and to still show up no matter how difficult it is to do so.
May the Gospel values of love, forgiveness, and nonviolence hold you together as family today,
Margarita Solis Deal