Setting the Earth on Fire

Currently there are at least three wildfires burning in Colorado covering about 127,000 acres (as of this writing on August 11). So it may seem like a puzzling time to reflect on the words of Jesus in this weekend’s Gospel: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12:49). Does Jesus really want the whole earth to go up in flames?
We need not take the Lord literally here. Fire is used throughout the Bible as a symbol of God’s mysterious dynamic presence; of God’s guidance and love; of God’s judgment on sinners; and of divine purification. While all these descriptions have their place in the mind of God and in salvation history, today I would turn our attention to another image of fire. The flame of the Baptismal candle is referred to as “the flame of faith” which must be kept burning brightly until the Lord returns. This last image best suits our purposes today as we reflect upon our Stewardship of Faith.

Surely Jesus came to set the earth on fire with faith in the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Most of His parables are descriptions of some aspect of the Kingdom of God; and His death and resurrection open the gates of heaven to us who believe. He wants everyone to repent and believe the Good News of God’s kingdom. 

Our faith in God is a combination of two dynamics: the grace of God acting upon our souls, and our free choice to cooperate with God’s grace and to trust Him. St. Thomas Aquinas puts it succinctly: “Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace” (cf. CCC 153 – 154).

This is where we begin our Stewardship of Faith; by recognizing faith as a gift from the grace of God. Like the other levels of stewardship, we are called to give thanks to God for the gift of faith. We can thank God in prayer for the gift of faith. But Stewardship of Faith invites us to thank God in three other important ways: Learning About our Faith, Living our Faith, and Sharing our Faith. These are the three categories on our Stewardship of Faith cards which I invite you to pray about this week. Seriously.

Why am I asking you to be a good steward of your faith? Quite frankly, “use it or lose it.” The veracity of this phrase can easily be applied to our physical health, but only to a point. No matter how efficiently we use our bodies, eventually we will use them up; they will stop working. Not so with faith, however. The more we use our faith, the stronger it becomes until it reaches its destination in the eternal love of God. As we keep learning about our faith, living our faith and sharing our faith, none of our efforts are wasted. Rather, they are stored up as treasures for us in the Kingdom of God (cf. Matthew 6:20; Luke 12: 32-33). 

So I invite you to take a Stewardship of Faith card home this week and pray about what you can do to better know your faith, live your faith and share your faith. The items on the card are just suggestions. If the Lord gives you another idea just write it on the card. 

Complete both parts of the card: one for you to keep, and the other to offer up to God next weekend by placing it in a basket during Mass. Please remember to bring your card back to Mass next weekend. If you think you may forget to do so, just take a picture of the card in the pew, of scan the QR code on the screen for a digital version. Then you can complete a card in the pew next weekend.

Jesus wants to set the earth on fire with faith. He wants to fan the flame of faith within you. So be a good steward of that faith by doing something to learn more about it, to live and to share it. Use it or lose it.


Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash