Swords and Pieces

JMJ
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The Readings for the 15th Monday, Tempus per Annum

“I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”

Matthew 10:34

THIS GOSPEL CAN BE Unnerving – especially if you’re used to “Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild” or if you want to imagine that. He’s not. He wasn’t. He won’t be. Nevertheless, this Gospel can be unnerving. The Parochial Vicar at St Dominic’s gets right to the point: sometimes religion can cause family division and that’s ok.

See the full homily here.

One thing that’s interesting in the Catholic Church and in other communities – which Fr Patrick touches – is that it’s the younger folks who experience this. As I watch generations of younger Catholics – and Eastern Orthodox – come into the Church by choice, they are more conservative, more traditional. I was intrigued, over the weekend, to read a report from a Messianic Jewish Community that documented the same trend: younger folks looking for more traditional content, more traditional celebration of the holidays, etc. I mention this only because it’s their younger folks doing this. We’re not drifting towards less traditional in the religious communities, even if there are folks who wish things to be less traditional. Instead, what Father hit on in his homily, if one freely choses to be in a religious community one wants to go all the way. I suspect this is why even on Israeli media it seems to be the younger folks who are speaking up for the religious communities – even as it is the younger, non-religious folks doing the protests. Although the “liberals” may be in the majority in each generation, this is not a generational thing at all. It’s splitting things perpendicular to Chronology.

That’s really all I have to say about this. Although I take it as a sign of hope. Yes, some people may leave religious communities because they disagree with certain traditional teachings, but the ones who stay – and the new ones who come in – are very committed.

Thanks be to God.

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Huw Raphael

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