The Divisiveness of Christ

Gospel Reflection for August 17, 2025 - Luke 12:49-53

I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?

And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?

Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.

For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three.

The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. (Luke 12: 49-53 DRA)

For today’s reflection, I would like to compare two songs – one far more popular and influential than the other, but not in a good way. The first is John Lennon’s famous anthem of atheistic communism, “Imagine.” This song has become a standard rallying cry for peace, unity and goodwill toward men - that at least is how it’s interpreted in the media and popular culture – and now it is played every year to celebrate New Year’s Day in Times Square.

But a closer examination of its lyrics shows what kind of peace Our Lord disparages in today’s Gospel reading, the kind of peace that is beloved by our modern liberal culture and by many in the Church, one which seeks to be ‘tolerant’ and even to show Pride toward sin as though it were merely an expression of ‘diversity,’ which sees religions other than the one true Faith as simply ‘different traditions’ all of which are willed by God as paths leading to the same heavenly mountaintop. This is the kind of outward ‘peace’ which purports to do away with international and civil strife, with discord between individuals and with class, sex and racial conflict, where everyone is “living for today”, simply by denying private property, national citizenship and religious affiliation, erasing the things that supposedly cause the ‘us vs. them mentality,’ as it’s often called today.

“Imagine there’s no heaven... No hell below us” – for Lennon, this meant a denial of the afterlife, but for many today, it means a universalism where there is no possibility of Hell except perhaps for the Hitlers of the world, where people assume they and their loved ones are bound for Heaven and thus have no need to avoid or correct sins. “Imagine there’s no countries / It isn’t hard to do” - a world without borders, where no one is a criminal simply because they crossed a border illegally – sound familiar? “Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion, too” - a world where errors of doctrine are ignored, where sinful lifestyles are met with the pithy phrase, “who am I to judge?” and where “pluralism” and “separation of Church and state” mean the relegation of religion to a private opinion relevant only for your own life, not for anyone else or for society, so that evangelization becomes “proselytism” and “bigotry.”

This is the peace Our Lord rejected – not the authentic peace which is the effect of charity, where the indwelling of the Holy Ghost orders all of our thoughts and desires to love of God and neighbor and brings authentic concord between men of goodwill, but the peace “as the world giveth”. (Jn 14:27) This is why worldly people accuse Christians of being “divisive”, because we reject the false peace they offer. As St. Cyril of Alexandria taught,

What sayest thou, O Lord? Didst thou not come to give peace, Who art made peace for us? (Eph. 2:14.) making peace by Thy cross with things in earth and things in heaven; (Col. 1:20.) Who saidst, My peace I give unto you. (John 14:27.) But it is plain that peace is indeed a good, but sometimes hurtful, and separating us from the love of God, that is, when by it we unite with those who keep away from God. And for this reason we teach the faithful to avoid earthly bonds. (Catena Aurea)

The second song is one by The Hillbilly Thomists, a group of Dominican friars who sing Catholic bluegrass. One of their earliest original songs focused on this theme, specifically on Christ’s words that He wished to kindle fire on the Earth. They compare this to the vision of St. Dominic’s mother, who saw herself giving birth to a dog with a torch in his mouth and named her son “Dominic” – Domini canes or ‘dog of the Lord’ – based on it. The Dominicans have ever since brought fire to the Earth by proclaiming the truth with fearlessness and clarity, remaining one of the most orthodox of all religious orders.

But this holy fire of the Spirit will always be hated by the world – it is the fire that burns away the chaff from the threshing floor and purifies the dross from the metal so that only the pure remains. They will malign Christ’s faithful as they did Jeremias, hence why the “cloud of witnesses” which is the communion of saints is filled with men and women who were either martyred or persecuted in other ways for reproving sin. Christ came to bring the fire of divine love to the world, and anyone who receives it, nourishes it and becomes a servant of the Secret Fire, fanning its flames into the hearts of others will be hated and persecuted by the world, reminding them that the earthly paradise imagined by John Lennon is a lie of Satan, the glamour of sin masking the misery, death and damnation which are the only true effects of rejecting God. Without an end, there is no reason to act, and thus without Heaven, there is no reason to live, as more and more people are coming to realize today – but equally, without Hell there is no justice and evildoers can prosper in this world without consequence in the next.

We must never let ourselves be tricked into this hedonistic stupor and the slothful complacency it engenders, for we will be judged by our works and rewarded, or punished, accordingly. (Apoc 2:23) If we suffer for Christ today, we will reign with Him forever in Heaven, so never let the judgments of sinners dissuade you from living out your faith with courage and conviction, sharing the love of Christ with all you meet.

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