Gospel: Matthew 7, 21 – 27
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.”
Homily
Many of us in Trinidad and Tobago will remember last October, at the height of the rainy season seeing the picture of a house teetering on a slope, endangering other houses because its foundations had collapsed. The occupants, not only of that house but of others lower down the slope, had to be evacuated because of the danger to life and limb which the house now posed. It took quite a bit of work from the army corps of engineers and others to finally secure and dismantle the house to make the area safe for the other inhabitants of the area. Of course there were recriminations being hurled all around but the lesson was starkly evident to all. In secure foundations have disastrous consequences.
The generic medicine is sold at affordable prices as the manufacturers have invested nothing in cialis usa online discovering the formulas for making the drugs. It buy online viagra also helps in resolving digestion disorders which may lead to uncomfortable and painful conditions. Do you need to use professional solutions, such cialis professional cipla as taking herbal aphrodisiacs. New plans are being buy generic levitra mouthsofthesouth.com made to raise the Titanic. I remember at that time saying to myself; “How true the words of Jesus! 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.” These words of Jesus end the great Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon Jesus, beginning with the Beatitudes, spells out for his disciples the New Way of life which those who aspire to be members of the Kingdom must live. Jesus gives to his followers the foundations of Christian life. According to Jesus Christian life is built on a tripod of three attitudes which are firmly anchored in the bedrock of self-giving love. These attitudes are a) Seeking always to live not simply the words but above and beyond that the Spirit of the Law,
b) treating others as you would like them to treat you and c) doing nothing simply for fame and prestige. Jesus epitomized these attitudes and brought a new and fresh insight to what being human means. It was because of these attitudes that Jesus could say; “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
In the culture of the world of today, it is believed that to live these attitudes is to lose oneself. In a culture which says that upward mobility must be the norm of life, the attitudes described in the Sermon on the Mount, taken to their ultimate consequences, do not help for they call us to humility and availability. And so to live what the Sermon on the Mount calls us to live is to live in a manner which is totally counter cultural. Jesus however was counter cultural especially in his religious attitudes and so must all true disciples of Jesus be especially when the religious attitudes of the day do not help us to be truly human. It is thus necessary for all of us to build our lives on the solid foundation of the values given to us by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. “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.”
A look at the lives of all the saints will show us that their lives were built on the values given to us in the Sermon on the Mount. They did whatever they did, not for fame and prestige, but out of love for God and for others especially those on the margins. They treated others as they would have liked to be treated and very often better than they were treated and they went beyond the letter of the law to live the spirit of the Law.
You and I also are called to be saints and so the values of the Sermon on the Mount must become our values. If not we build our lives on shifting sands. We are headed for disaster and will be a danger to others, carrying them with us when disaster strikes.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, we all want happiness in life and in the hereafter. Help us with the gift of your Spirit to understand that true happiness will come, not because of the values the world proclaims to us, i.e. prestige, power, pleasure and money but because of the values proposed to us by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Give us the grace to build our lives on the foundation of these values so that we be truly human and arrive at the fulfillment and happiness you promise to the Pure in heart. We ask this through the intercession of Mary Our Mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
