Today's Gospel

The Real Cost of Division

What is it that nudged your heart today or caught your attention? Remember each day we're looking for a word or a phrase or an idea, just one, to allow us to sink the roots of the gospel deep into our lives. The thing that struck me today was this idea that every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and house falls upon house. Every kingdom divided against itself. And that happens to us, right? We get divided against ourselves. You think about sin, like yeah, sin is an offense to God, but it is also a self-destruction. And so you have this great desire to become all God created you to be. You have this great desire to live a holy life. You have this great desire to be and become the best version of yourself. But then you also do these things-- me too, not just you. We do these things that are opposed to that, that are divided against that. And that creates a division within us. And that's one of the reasons we go to confession, right, is to heal that division within us so that we can be whole again, so that we're not laid to waste.

And I think that we do see kingdoms in this world. And I use the word kingdom very loosely, but we do see entities in this world that are laid to waste because they're divided amongst themselves. We see professional sporting teams that are laid waste because they're divided amongst themselves. We see marriages that are laid waste because husband and wife are divided against themselves. We see it in teams at work. We see it everywhere. We look really. And so there is this carnage of division in our culture, and Jesus is calling us out of that to be whole. He's calling us out of that to experience wholeness. And he's saying, okay, if you want that wholeness, you really have to work on this division within you. And then having worked on it, then you have to guard your wholeness. You have to guard your wholeness. That is difficult because it requires constant vigilance. And at the end of the reading, you've got the guy who's strong and fully armed and guards his palace and his goods are at peace, but then one stronger comes along. It requires constant vigilance to guard, protect, and defend the presence of God within us, the knowledge that we are walking side by side with God.

So let's think about the divisions within us today and how we can implore God, beg God, ask God to heal those divisions so that we can be whole. Have a great day. And remember, do not just be yourself, be the-very-best-version-of-yourself, all that God created you to be.