Fire Power

About 200 million years ago - give or take 10 or 20 million - when the proto-continents of Africa and North America snuggled together with no Atlantic ocean between, Casablanca would have been a suburb of New York City. the present geography was wrought by an intense seismic reaction sixty miles beneath the surface, The resulting heat produced a sea of semi-molten material that enabled the continents to float apart.

There is another fire that is designed to "renew the face of the earth." It's the fire that Jesus spoke of with such ardor: "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" (Lk 12:49). As his subsequent remarks indicate, his proclamation of the kingdom is a refining and purifying fire. His message is inflammatory because it is controversial - a source of conflict and dissension even within families. It will separate not continents, as done by the subterranean fiery magma, but vast throngs of those who accept and those who reject him, as a smelter separates the dross from the metal, John the Baptist spoke of the "burning of the chaff" when separated from the wheat (see Matthew 3:12).

For us, the bottom line is the challenge of Jesus: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters" (Mt 12:30). The choice is really a series of countless choices, almost moment by moment, in every situation in which our love for God is put to the test, St. Augustine provided a reliable shibboleth for choosing: " Love God and do whatever you want."