October 25, 2012

Luke 12: 49 - 53
"I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!   I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!  Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three;  they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

Reflection:  When my son was in 8th grade, he came to me and said that he had decided he no longer wanted to go to Religious Education; he did not want to become confirmed.

I asked, "Why not?"

He said, "I have decided that I am an atheist."

I said,  "You are too young and to uneducated to be an atheist."

He said, "Well, then I am an agnostic."

I said, "You could be an agnostic."

He said, "I have decided that I do not want to be confirmed,  because I do not believe,"

I said, "Look your grandmother, my mother, is a religious fanatic and your great-uncle, my uncle, is a priest, and his sister is a nun and you are going to be confirmed."

He said, "Do you want me to be confirmed even though I do not believe just to make you happy?"

I said, "Yes." And he was confirmed.