Who or how do you envisage Jesus to be? I still have pictures and images of Jesus from my childhood home, including an image of the Sacred Heart with the names of my Mum and Dad and my sister Maureen on it.

in these images Jesus is static, he looks out in a kind and concerned way. I like the images I have and will always treasure them, but, during his time on earth, and now in heaven, Jesus is far from a static, serene figure and we see something of this in Sunday's gospel.

Sunday's gospel follows immediately on from last Sunday's week’s gospel where Jesus insists that we all need to be ready for the arrival of the kingdom. What does this mean? What are the signs of the kingdom? What will it look like? What is our role in this?

This is where the dynamism of Jesus’ teaching becomes unsettling, even frightening. We are used to the static Jesus, frozen with a smile on the paper of our images. But Jesus was seen as being dangerous in his time, and in a real sense he still is. We see something of why this is in Sunday's gospel. The arrival of the kingdom of God in the world, and into the hearts of believers, is by its nature disruptive and Jesus tells us can be divisive.

The transformation of the heart and soul by Jesus through the Holy Spirit is inescapable in the life of the Christian. Belief in Jesus means that our souls are set alight with divine love, we begin to experience something called “metanoia”, a Greek term meaning a “change of mind” but not only this, the way we see the world and how we behave also changes driven by love of God and of neighbour.

This has consequences for who we are, how we see others and ourselves, how we perceive our relationship with God, and how we interact with the world. Living the the message of Jesus – the message of life and love of God and those around us changes us. Living the way of Jesus transforms us threatening what we may have seen or believed to have been important. It also threatens what underpins so much of our society and its power structures at the heart of which rampant individualism.

Jesus sets the world ablaze by his words and actions, and he invites us to do the same. His words burned in the hearts of his friends, particularly after his resurrection and Pentecost. They wanted to pass the light from the flame of Jesus on to others. That flame has been passed on to us to give to others.

Is the flame of Jesus alive in your heart? Is it a burning fire or wavering flame? The truth of it is that for all of us sometimes the flame of Jesus in us is stronger than others. Bringing the light of Jesus into the world and too others can be a risky, divisive, enterprise and can, seemingly in this life, end badly as we see with the martyrs of our modern age from Nigeria and China to the Middle East.

The question for all of us is how courageous are we prepared to be in bringing the kingdom into the world, the risks are great, but the rewards are eternal.

As always please be assured of my daily prayers for your needs and intentions.

Fr Chris