Homily – The Fire That Divides, The Fire That Saves

Brothers and sisters,

Today Jeremiah is sinking into the mud.
Jesus is setting fire to the earth.
And you and I must decide where we stand.

Jeremiah the prophet tells the truth.
He warns the people: repent, return, or face ruin.
And what’s the reward?
They throw him in a cistern—dark, cold, sinking in mud.

Why? Because the Word of God offends.
Because the world prefers comfortable lies to costly and inconvenient truths.

Sound familiar?
Speak the truth today—about marriage, about life, about the Eucharist—and you’ll be mocked, silenced, “cancelled.”
The pit still exists. Only now it looks like ridicule, exclusion, and contempt.

But Jeremiah did not stop. And neither must we.

Jesus says:
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! Do you think I came to bring peace? No, but division.”

Not the Jesus of soft lullabies.
Not the tame Jesus of vague spirituality.
This is the Jesus who brings fire, who divides families, who demands decision.

What is this fire?
It is love, but love that burns away sin.
It is the Cross, where His Heart is pierced and the world is set aflame.
It is Pentecost, tongues of fire, courage in the face of fear.

This is not comfortable religion.
This is consuming fire.

And yes, it divides.

“Father against son, mother against daughter.”
Why? Because when Christ is first, everything else must take second place.

The Catholic faith is not one interest among many.
It is the centre. It is the axis.
Everything else—family, work, friendships—must orbit around it.

Lose that centre, and even the closest bonds collapse.
Keep that centre, and even division becomes a cross that leads to resurrection.

The world tells you: “Blend in. Don’t stand out. Keep faith private.”
But Christ tells you: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”

The world says: “All roads lead to God.”
Christ says: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

The world says: “Follow your truth.”
Christ says: “I am the Truth.”

The world says: “Faith is a hobby.”
Christ says: “Deny yourself, take up your Cross, and follow Me.”

The fire of Christ burns through the lies of the age.
And if you live it, the world will call you intolerant.
But better the world call you intolerant than the Lord call you indifferent.

When Jesus says He brings division, He is not glorifying conflict.
He is demanding decision.

Neutrality is impossible.
Either Christ is at the centre—or something else is.
Either the Catholic faith defines your life—or the world does.
Either you kneel before the Eucharist—or you bow to idols of comfort, success, and approval.

There is no middle ground.
A fire cannot half-burn.
A disciple cannot half-follow.
A Catholic cannot half-believe.

And yes, it will divide families.
Because the moment Christ is truly Lord, everything else must take its place beneath Him.
Because only Christ saves.

Jeremiah was dropped into a pit because he was faithful.
Jesus was lifted onto a Cross because He was faithful.
And you—you may be cut off, mocked, even rejected—if you are faithful.

The question is not whether the world approves.
The question is whether Christ finds you burning with faith.

The saints knew this.

St. Lawrence: “Turn me over, I’m done on this side.”
St. Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
St. Thomas More: “I die the King’s good servant—but God’s first.”
St. Maximilian Kolbe: offering his life for another in the hunger bunker.

They did not seek comfort. They sought Christ.
And their fire still burns.

But here’s the danger, brothers and sisters: compromise.
The fire of Christ cannot burn in a heart that is half given to Him and half surrendered to the world.
The devil does not need you to worship him—he only needs you lukewarm, distracted, diluted.
And so the temptation is always: “Keep your Catholic faith—just tone it down. Keep your Eucharist—just don’t let it change your life. Keep your Rosary—just don’t take it seriously.”
But the saints would laugh at such halfway Catholicism. They knew that a faith that bends to the world breaks under pressure.

Remember: the world crucified Jesus not because He was unclear, but because He was uncompromising. He did not dilute the truth. He did not soften the Cross. He did not say, “Live as you please.” He said: “Repent, believe, follow Me.”

So do not compromise. Better to be hated for Christ than loved for lies. Better to be divided with Him than united against Him. Better to stand in the fire with Jeremiah and the saints than sink into the mud of indifference.

Because only the fire that divides us from the world can unite us with God.

What about us?

The greatest danger is not persecution.
It is lukewarm faith.
Half-Catholic, half-worldly.
Mass when convenient. Prayer when desperate. Obedience when it costs nothing.

But Christ spits out the lukewarm. (Rev 3:16)
He would rather us blazing or cold than drifting in fog.

Let’s be crystal clear.

Jesus did not say: “All religions are the same.”
He did not say: “Be nice and sincere and that’s enough.”
He did not say: “Follow your truth.”

He said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
He said: “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.”
He said: “Tell it to the Church.”

That means:
There is one Way—Christ.
There is one Church—Catholic.
There is one Fire—His sacraments.

Not optional. Not negotiable. Not vague.
Concrete. Sacramental. Real.

This fire is not theory.
It’s here.

Baptism sparks the flame.
Confirmation fans it.
Confession clears the ash.
The Eucharist—here is the Fire Himself.

Not symbol. Not memory.
Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, Divinity.

Every Mass is Pentecost again.
Every Communion is fire in your soul—if you receive worthily.

This is why the Catholic Church matters.
Because here the fire is real.
Here the presence is true.
Here the authority of Christ still binds and looses.

So how do we live this week?

Pray daily—fan the flame.
Confess regularly—don’t let the fire smother.
Come to Mass expecting heaven—not entertainment.
Stand for truth, even if it divides your family.

Better a house divided for Christ than united against Him.
Better to burn with faith than to fade into ashes.

Jeremiah in the mud.
Jesus on the Cross.
The saints in the fire.

That’s the pattern.
Truth, then conflict.
Love, then suffering.
Cross, then crown.

So, brothers and sisters, Jesus says today:
“I came to bring fire.”

That fire may put you in a pit.
That fire may divide your family.
That fire will cost you comfort.

But it is the only fire that saves.

So I ask you:
Will you smother the flame, or let it blaze?
Will you keep Christ at the margins, or put Him at the centre?
Will you choose approval, or the Cross?

Because when the Master comes, He will not ask how safe you played it.
He will ask whether you burned.

And may He not find us lukewarm ashes—
but living torches, blazing with faith, ready for the Kingdom.