If you have ever experienced a crisis in your life, then you can certainly relate to today’s gospel. Many people have experienced an episode in their lives when it seemed like everything was falling apart. Sometimes our lives actually do fall apart because of the death of a spouse, a divorce, the loss of a child, family member or friend. The sudden loss of a job, or the loss of a home because of a house fire, is also a traumatic experience for many people. Most of us can recall at least one experience in our lives that was absolutely heartbreaking and perhaps our lives underwent a major change because of it. It wasn’t easy, was it?
Jesus talks about the storms in our lives in today’s gospel:
“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.”
The meaning of this verse in the gospel seems pretty simple. Our faith in God is the bedrock of our lives. We can handle whatever life throws at us, as long as we are firmly grounded in our faith in God.
Many people will read these two sentences and say, but what about Jesus? Isn’t Jesus supposed to be the main focus of our lives? Catholics usually put the focus on Jesus Christ, as the center of our lives. And, the Eucharist is the center of our lives. Our Sunday worship is centered entirely on Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is lifeblood of our lives as Catholics, and rightfully so. Jesus is truly present in the flesh and blood, in our communion with him and with one another at Mass each week.
However in the gospels, Jesus always takes the focus off of himself and directs our attention to his Father:
“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.”
This is a line worth stopping to think about, and pray about today. Jesus Christ repeatedly talked about doing his Father’s will throughout the gospels and most profoundly, during the agony in the garden.
When Christ’s disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, the first words he taught them was about his Father. “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done….”
And when one of the Pharisees who was an expert in the law asked him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22: 34-40
This is the first paragraph in today’s gospel in it’s entirety:
“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.”
In this gospel, Jesus clearly states that it isn’t enough to do works in his name. That will not get us into heaven. Obeying His Father’s will for us is what is important. That doesn’t mean to disregard Jesus Christ at all. Nor does it mean to disregard the Trinity, because Jesus is in his Father and his Father is in him. What this means is, to recognize God the Father as a separate, individual being, who is to remain in the first place in our lives. Jesus Christ always acknowledged that his Father was above him.
Do you know God? Seriously. God gets ignored a lot in our faith, because it’s difficult to grasp who He is, let alone have a personal relationship with Him. A personal relationship through prayer, with Jesus Christ is a little easier to do, because he is a human like us, half man and half God. God the Father is real too though. He’s kind. He’s loving. He genuinely cares about our well being. His compassion is beyond limits. His intelligence and creativity is beyond our ability to comprehend and understand.
God the Father is our creator. He created everything that exists in the universe and he created the earth, and us, because He loves us and He would like our companionship in heaven. No, He doesn’t need us, but we enrich His life somehow or else He would not have pursued us relentlessly throughout the ages. God did this in the Old Testament. He actually came down to earth and had a personal relationship with Abraham, and Moses and many other people whose lives are recorded in the Old Testament. Just because He sent His son Jesus into the world for our salvation, doesn’t mean we should just forget our Creator and only love His son.
God the Father can not show Himself to us, but He left the masterpiece of creation for us to read and discover Him, kind of like love letters that God left in the world. All of creation sings of His glory, including you. You are wonderfully made in His image. Your hands, your eyes, your fingerprints are all unique to you. Your DNA will never be repeated exactly the same again. God designed you that way. To be able to see, to feel, to hear and to touch are miracles in and of themselves. Your body is a walking miracle, a living testament to God’s great creativity, love and compassion for mankind.
Today, perhaps you could pay a little attention to the natural world around you, and look for the beauty that lies hidden in very single thing that exists. How can we not personally know Him? The One who painted our world with love? To know God, is to know His will for you and for your life. Jesus asks us to do what His Father wants from us, and we can not even begin to do that, if we do not genuinely seek to know Him in a personal way. We come to know God through our prayers, yes, but also through every single thing that exists. Perhaps we focus too much on man made things in our lives, instead of the timeless masterpiece of God’s creation?
Daily Mass Readings:
Kings 24: 8-17 / Psalm 79 / Matthew 7: 21-29
