“I have come to set fire in the world and wish it were already burning.”

The first part of today’s Gospel invites us to listen in depth to some words of Jesus that reveal something very intimate. Something that springs from within him and gains greater strength when we know that Jesus pronounces them when He is already close to his passion. He says to his disciples: “I have come to set fire in the world, and I wish it were already burning”… Jesus feels that his passion for God and his compassion for humanity, especially for the marginalized, has become like a fire burning inside, but He sees how far we are from experiencing that fire of passionate love. Today, more than at that time, we see that the fire of love has been weakened, it has been distorted, it is the “liquid love” of which a contemporary philosopher spoke, a love that evaporates easily and is no longer the foundation of life or what gives it meaning. How much the world needs to recover the strength of love, that passionate love that led Jesus to the cross and is the only one that has the spiritual strength necessary to change this world. How do we take care of that fire in us?