Reflection
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!”
Luke 12:49
Jesus threw out a challenge. The old way of relating with God and one another is over. See, think, live in a new way. Join me in the fire of another vision. It may divide you from those who don’t understand, but take the risk. Let go of your former way of living, leave the established order, move with me into a new way of being. Like fire his words gave light and heat and looked for a response that, like a burning, could consume everything in its path.
Prayer
“Fill me with truth that burns like fire.”
Action
Visualize the world of justice and love presented by Jesus. What needs to be burned away in your own sphere to bring it abou?
Suggested Reading
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
Luke 4:18-19
There is something primal about fire.
There is mystery in the flame’s ability
to ignite a spark within us
and link us to worlds beyond ourselves.
Miriam Therese Winter
All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all lived with a promise in their hearts that guided them toward the future without the need to know exactly what it would look like.
Henri Nouwen
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
Albert Schweitzer
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Plutarch
A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.
Rosabeth Kanter