Fire of God’s Love

Yesterday, I spent the day in Vallejo, at the NorCal Jam. There were nearly four thousand Catholic teens and young adults who participated in a day of sharing faith, fun, Sacraments and prayer.

The morning highlight was the celebration of the Mass, con-celebrated by four Bishops and about twenty priests. The homily used the day’s theme – On fire:

…Father Pat was on a camping trip with a youth group. One of the kids came over to him and asked, “Father, why do we need the Church to know God?” Without responding, Father pulled a coal out of the fire and set it outside the ring of stones. Still waiting for a reply, “Father, answer my question! Why do we need the Church to know God?!?”

 

In silence, they sat together and watched the lone coal burn itself out.

 

Then Father Pat looked at the youth and said, “do you see the coals in the fire? While they are together, they burn, they give off heat for hours. And we just add a coal from time to time to keep that fire burning. But, did you notice what happened to the coal that I separated from the others? I pulled it out of the fire, and within a couple of minutes it burned itself out. Our faith is just like those coals. As long as we huddle together, our stones are on fire, and they are red-hot. And, we will continue to burn and give off heat; heat of love that keeps us together. The moment we leave the fire, we burn out, and there is no more heat. When we gather around a campfire, we feel safe. We warm ourselves, we prepare our meals. We sing songs, and love to tell stories around them until it is time to go to bed.

 

Our campfire of faith is the Altar on which we prepare the meal that fill us. Around it, we sing, and tell the stories of God’s great feast, great love, great forgiveness. And, from which we are challenged to be set to find God in our own stories of our life.

 

There are nearly four thousand of you here today. All of you have stories to tell. How I’d love to hear your stories; how I’d love for you to hear mine. You might tell the stories of your life to a select few, but do tell them. They are the pages of the book of your life and they can serve as kindling of the fire in someone else’s heart. They are like the coals you can add to an burning campfire. At the end of today, you will have one more story to tell to friends who couldn’t be here.

 

You either pass on the warmth of the fire of this story, or it will burn out or cool off with no fanfare. That story is always ours. There is no greater fire than the telling of a story of our lived dreams.

 

Do not let anyone remove you from the campfire of God’s love!

 

Where we are all called to join, to give warmth, and take and start new fires wherever we go. Sadly to say, some parents, some people, some cultures, and even some clergy, sometimes without even knowing they are doing it, remove you from the campfire of Christ’s love, and try to set you outside the stone rim apart from the fire, far enough away to let the fire suffocate or burn out.

 

Do.not.let.them!

 

Surround yourself with people as on fire as you are! Share in each other’s strength. Share  in your stories. Let that love grow. Dare to live your life in ways that inspire.  Dare to become the burning coals of God’s fire of love.

 

Do we dare to become Catholics on fire?

 

Do we dare to make a difference?

—