In 1967, the rock group, the Doors,
released one of their most famous songs.
Little did they know that fifty-five years later
it would be part of a homily at Mass.
The refrain goes like this:

COME ON, BABY, LIGHT MY FIRE
COME ON, BABY, LIGHT MY FIRE
TRY TO SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE

In today’s gospel,
Jesus tells us that he has come to light a fire.
On Pentecost,
the Spirit did not come as a quiet whispering sound,
but as a mighty, howling wind and tongues of fire.

When Jeremiah tried to stop prophesying,
the message became like a fire in his heart.
He could no longer hold it in,
and many people turned against him,
tried to silence him
and even threw him into a cistern,
hoping that he would die there,
but nothing could extinguish the fire within.

Jesus wants us to be on fire,
no matter what the consequences.
People may turn against us,
even members of our own families,
but the fire must continue to burn
in our hearts and in our lives.

In our gospel today,
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem,
where he knew his enemies would do whatever they could to silence him.
They would do whatever was necessary to put out the fire.
His mother and his brothers had already come to try to save him from himself.
They just wanted to protect him,
but he wouldn’t let them douse the flames.
The Spirit that was burning within him was too strong.
He couldn’t help himself.
He had a mission to accomplish,
and those who were with him,
he had called, “mother and brother and sister to me.”

He had hoped that they too would be on fire,
filled with passion for the mission he had from the Father.
The flames in the mosaic behind me,
remind me of the fire with which He burned,
the passion that led him to the cross,
the love that was beyond all telling.

O, that our hearts were on fire with such passion and love.
The fire Christ wants to see is not the fire that destroys,
but the fire that clears the way for something new,
for the new covenant that Jeremiah had warned
would be written on our hearts,
on hearts that are on fire with faith, hope and love.

COME ON, SPIRIT, LIGHT MY FIRE
COME ON, SPIRIT, LIGHT MY FIRE
TRY TO SET MY HEART ON FIRE.

Try and set our lives on fire!
The author of the letter to the Hebrews
implores us to be like Jesus,
on fire with so much faith, hope and love,
that he endured the cross
in order that we might not grow weary and loose heart.
He knew that there would be suffering along the way,
but he also knew about the glory yet to come,
the glory in which we hope
as we gather around the table of the Lord today.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the 207th anniversary of the founding of
the Missionaries of the Precious Blood,
that day when Gaspar and several other Roman priests
were so on fire with love for the Precious Blood
and the ministry of renewing the Church
that they left behind everything else they had planned
to try something new.

Today, when we eat his Body and drink his Blood,
we implore the Lord,
that the bread from heaven
and the cup of salvation we share
may set our hearts on fire,
that we may all burn with the same faith, hope and love
that kept Jeremiah going even when so many had turned against him,
that kept Jesus going even when he knew what awaited him in Jerusalem,
that enabled the disciples to go far and wide
throughout the world to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ,
that same fire that Jesus came to ignite,
to set the world on fire
that it might become the Kingdom of God for all time.

COME ON, JESUS, LIGHT MY FIRE
COME ON, JESUS, LIGHT MY FIRE
TRY TO SET MY LIFE ON FIRE!