Back in the early summer of 1978,
a dozen seminarians spent six weeks
here at St. Charles.

We were young and foolish,
preparing to make our first promise of fidelity
to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

Most weekdays
we celebrated Mass with one of the priests
assigned to lead us
as we studied the history, mission and spirituality
of the congregation we were about to enter.

For those Masses,
we baked our own unleavened bread.
It had honey in it,
and melted butter was spread over it as it came out of the oven.

This was several years before the Vatican said that we couldn’t use
anything but water and flour to make the bread for Mass.

The recipe was known as Sweet Jesus.
Part of me wishes we could use that recipe again.

Today’s gospel, however, reminds us
that there is no such thing as sweet Jesus.
We’d like a Savior who is always kind and understanding,
gentle and compassionate.
But today, Jesus tells us that he is much more complicated than that.

“I have come to set the earth on fire,

and how I wish it were already blazing!”

Doesn’t sound like such a sweet Jesus today.

“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.”

There’s nothing sweet or gentle about those words.
And if you think this is a difficult message to hear,
imagine trying to preach on a day like today.

When I was first ordained,
there was a mix up with some paperwork
and I wasn't allowed to preach until this Sunday.
The parish was celebrating a special Family Unity Mass and picnic,
and I was given the gospel this gospel to preach on.
I have come to bring division in the family,
Jesus says, and I had to preach on that!

Jesus wants to set us on fire.
He’s not looking for this little light of mine.
He’s looking for a blazing fire
that clears away everything that gets in the way
of the Kingdom of God.
He’s calling us to a clean start.

We’ve all met people
who were so on fire with their faith,
all fired up with their love for God,
that it was hard not to notice,
not to pay attention,
not to be impressed by what they
were saying or doing.

Jeremiah, whom we hear from today
in our first reading,
is facing the consequences of being on fire
with the Lord.

In another passage he proclaims
“I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in,
I cannot endure it.”

When God sets us on fire,
we can’t stop ourselves.
We have to do something about it.

I’ve always wished that we had some actual recordings
of St. Gaspar as he preached.
We know that his words moved crowds of people
to change what they were doing
and become more and more like the people of God
that Jesus had called them to be.

St. Gaspar was on fire with devotion to the Precious Blood,|
and inspired countless others to share what he believed.

Today, Jesus calls us to be on fire with our faith,
with our love for God and for one another.

Elsewhere, he tells his disciples
that he doesn’t want any lukewarm followers.
He wants us to be as passionate for the Kingdom as he was.

May the word of God that we hear,
the eucharist that we share,
and the people we gather with today
set our hearts on fire today
and every day into the future.

Amen.