In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus tell His followers that He has “come to bring fire to the earth”. He describes the divisions that will happen even within close-knit families. Jesus presents the inevitability of discussion that may or may not lead to actual conflict. What He is not doing is to offer disagreement as automatically causing the breakdown of family life. In speaking of religious belief, Jesus refers to something that touches the deepest part of a person’s soul: the person’s relationship with God. If our understanding of God were not so important, were only a trivial matter, it would never be divisive.
A proverb declares that, “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.” Few of us will make much impact on the world on the world stage. However, in recent years, huge strides have been made in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. We are unlikely to see full Christian unity within our own lifetime, but “unity” doesn’t necessarily mean believing the same things: it does mean working together in peace. Little by little, our efforts to speak to each other are making a world of difference.