Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne

Jesus came to bring fire: the fire of God's love on earth and the fire of desire in our hearts. In a way, Jesus takes away our peace, if we think of peace as inert tranquility. This, however, is not true peace. Sometimes we would like to be "left in peace": for no one to bother us, for others to cease to exist. This is not God's peace.

The peace that Jesus brings is like a fire and demands much of us. Above all, it demands that we take a stand. Faced with injustice and inequality, where human dignity is trampled, where vulnerable people are silenced: we must take a stand. To hope is to take a stand. To hope is to understand in our hearts and demonstrate in our actions that things cannot continue as before. This, too, is the true fire of the Gospel.