Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Thursday of the twenty-ninth week in ordinary time, October 22, 2026.
The theme for our meditation today is: The Fire is Always Burning on Earth. In an elementary school, students are very afraid of bullying among students. The teachers tried their best to stop the violence with intensive assistance and guidance. During drawing lessons, the teacher asked the children to draw objects they chose freely. Marcela drew a picture of a fire burning so big and showed it to her teacher. At the bottom of the picture was written: "The bullies were burned to death by this fire." The teacher smiled proudly at her student's good intention.
Marcela and all of us want that the fire that is burning on earth, destroy anything that ruins our lives. The Lord Jesus also said in His teaching about the fire that He brought into the world so that it would cleanse the evildoers and give the good and faithful ones freedom to grow. This teaching had made many of Jesus' disciples unable to bear and they chose to leave Him. But Peter, on behalf of his companions, chose to stay and be faithful, as he was saying: "To whom else should we go, Lord"?
We also have chosen to stay with Peter. The proof is that we all remain in our faith and comply with Peter's exclamation, even stronger at this time, that we cannot be related to anything and anyone else rather than Him alone. Who else should we go to? That's our disposition with Saint Peter as our leader. It was also a radical choice made by Saint Paul who once told the Ephesians to always be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. Saint Paul prayed for them to be strong, because divisions will always occur in the Church.
However, this option is not without many risks. The most obvious thing is about the power and influence of Jesus Christ to keep the fire on earth burning and cannot be extinguished. Fire has the light that dispels darkness, but also it burns the things that are useless or those that we do not need anymore. This means that those who do not belong to God will disappear, then those who are with God will remain.
In the days of Jesus Christ and during the period of the early Church, this division was very clear. Because of the powerful influence of Jesus, some family members chose to follow Jesus, while others rejected and opposed him. Today, the influence of this world and the enjoyment of flesh, make polarization between those who are faithful and unfaithful to follow Jesus Christ still exists. If we want those unfaithful ones to return to being faithful, each of us should take this duty as our common responsibility, at least to bring back those who are within our reach.
Let's pray. In the name of the Father ... O most holy Father in heaven, bless us who are fragile in our zeal to endure and to be faithful to You. We are really in need of Your intervention. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit ... In the name of the Father ...
