We come in the Gospel to the end of Jesus' missionary instructions to His disciples. At first sight, today's saying is hard to take: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth; it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword." And what follows sounds even worse. Jesus seems to say He has come to break up families - "a man's enemies will be those of his own household". We should not take this as meaning that this was Jesus deepest intention. When these words were written they had already become a fact. The Call of Jesus was a source of serious disruption in families and, in some parts of the world today, it still is. The real cause is not Jesus or His Message but the refusal - sometimes the violent refusal - of some people to accept it. People have been ousted from their families because they became Christians, or priests or entered religious life.

Jesus is, of course, the Prince of Peace. At the Last Supper He told His disciples: "Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you." But He also told them at that time that they would become objects of violent hatred and many of them, not to mention many others in succeeding generations, would give up their lives.

It is the paradox of being a Christian - a message of love is met with a response of hatred.