Father Rod Kreidler: Time to stand up for faith
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” (Luke 12:49)
There was an incident two weeks ago that you might have seen on the news. A scary moment occurred Aug. 9 during a Little League regional tournament in Waco, Texas.
Pitcher Kaiden Shelton, of Pearland, Texas, was facing batter Isaiah Jarvis of Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he lost control of the ball and the pitch struck Jarvis' helmet during the Southwest Regional Playoff final.
Jarvis fell to the ground and held his head as coaches rushed to check on him.
Moments later, Jarvis was cleared and walked to first base. However, Shelton was shaken up and began to cry.
Seeing what was happening, Jarvis walked to the pitcher’s mound, and gave Shelton a hug and told him he was OK.
What makes this incident different is that if it occurred during a Major League game, the result likely would have been a bench-clearing brawl.
In an interview with the boys the next day, Jarvis was asked why he responded the way he did. He said he “just wanted to spread God’s love.” He could have rushed the mound and attacked the pitcher, but this young man learned Jesus’ mercy, and just wanted to set the earth on fire with God’s love.
And Jesus says, “How I wish the world was already blazing.”
The cost of discipleship seldom makes the news like this young man on the baseball diamond, but we are all continually confronted with the choice of standing up for our faith or joining the world that rejects the Lord.
How often are we encouraged to tear down a co-worker with the hope of getting his or her position? Our politicians demonize “the other side,” and refuse to work together. There are some who will read this and reject it because it comes from a Catholic priest.
How often do we mock someone for refusing to participate in an immoral gathering? Movies and the media glorify sin and belittle those who reject it.
The tempters themselves often claim to be modern-day Christians, but in fact they are promoting the works of evil.
But nothing outside of us can quell the fire that Jesus lit in our hearts. Only we can put the fire out by giving in to the pagan world. We cannot do this. We cannot let anything, any situation, put the fire out. We cannot drown it with our own selfishness.
We keep our eyes focused on Jesus, and as we run the race of our lives, we draw to Him who leads us closer to ourselves. For the fire that he has set is worth infinitely more than all the so-called reasonable demands of the world.
St. Paul wrote in the letter to the Corinthians: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor 1:18)
Maybe it starts with hug, maybe it starts by us just forgiving someone, maybe it starts letting things go that aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of life. Maybe it starts with you and me.
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.”
The Rev. Rod Kreidler is pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church in Ashland.
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Father Rod Kreidler: Time to stand up for faith
