This morning, I checked my Facebook news feed and saw that Timothy Cardinal Dolan posted something in honor of it being the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” speech.

“Like Rev. King, I have a dream that religion and faith will bring out the best in people. A source of unity, not division. #DreamDay” – Timothy Cardinal Dolan

For some reason, this struck me as odd. I think it’s because we had a reading on this during Mass a couple of Sunday’s ago. Jesus actually said something about not unity, but division. So, here’s what Jesus said:

“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” Luke 12-49:53

Yes, Cardinal Dolan and Dr. King are right, in that our religion should bring out the best in us, but unfortunately Jesus, who they both serve, disagrees that He will cause division.

Believing in Jesus Christ will not make the world love you, for the world hates Jesus and His Church because they both demand that we make sacrifice. A sacrifice to put God before everything. On that final note, I leave you with this:

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates my Father. If I had not done works among them that no one else ever did, they would not have sin; but as it is, they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But in order that the word written in their law might be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without cause.’
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15:18-27

If the world loves you, you are not practicing your faith and therefore are not Christian.