Reflection for August 17, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 12:49-53

Gospel: Luke 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 

From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

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Reflection:

Has there been a time in your family when, in your desire to correct a wrong, you found yourself creating conflict? Perhaps you gently reminded your spouse to come home early and not linger with friends after work—not out of control or nagging, but out of love and concern—because you knew that arriving late often meant coming home a little drunk. 

In the Gospel, Jesus calls us to courage. He invites us to speak out whenever we see a loved one straying from the right path. Sometimes, speaking the truth in love may build temporary walls between us. Yet if these walls are built by truth, they are worth it—for truth is the very thing that will set us free. 

Think about it: if we witness immorality within the family—a husband or wife “playing with fire”—should the other spouse simply ignore it, pretending to see and hear no evil in the face of such blatant disrespect and satanic behavior? Of course not! Love demands that we speak up. Silence in such a moment is not kindness—it is surrender to sin’s slow corrosion of the soul. 

The tragedy for some of us is that we choose passivity. We close our eyes to wrongdoing, not because we approve of it, but because we fear the division or conflict that may follow. But this fear is misplaced. Jesus does not call us to comfort—He calls us to holiness, and holiness often requires confrontation with what is wrong. 

This mindset of silence is dangerously wrong. Our Lord asks us, whenever we see sin at work, to denounce not only the act but the evil that lurks within it—even if doing so means enduring strained relationships for a season. Why? Because wrong will never right itself through silence. 

So instead of sealing our lips, let us, in love and humility, speak out. Let us not tire of exposing wrongdoing until the darkness is driven out and the wrongdoer is set free. 

May we remember: in Christ, the goal is never to destroy, but to heal; never to condemn, but to restore. Speaking the truth in love is not about winning an argument—it is about winning a soul for God. – Marino J. Dasmarinas