“I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.” Eleanor Roosevelt: (1884 – 1962: was an American political figure, diplomat and activist)
Gospel Text: (MT 7:21-29)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.
We will either build on his word or build on something else. Either way we will build a life, and we will build a philosophy of life, or to put it more simply, we will build the faith we believe. When we cooperate with God's grace, that faith we build will be rooted in God's Word, and it will be a comprehensive faith, a faith that can guide our lives in the most challenging circumstances, even circumstances that would normally wreck a person's life. How else can we explain the moral thriving of people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, and Victor Frankl and Karol Wojtyla in the face of Nazi tyranny? Even the acknowledged secularist among them, Victor Frankl, found that life's meaning did not consist in material things, but rather in spiritual life, and in the highest form of virtue, agape love. God is love. The Word of God is the ultimate expression of love. Indeed, this is what Jesus meant by "the way."
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