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“Someone who listens to my words and acts on them is like a man who built his house on rock…but the person who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on sand” (Luke 6:43-4)

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Why would anyone build their house on sand? 

It’s sounds illogical – and it is – but people still did it.

For example, several rivers flow through Palestine, the place where Jesus exercised most of his public ministry. And in the summertime, some of these rivers dry up. 

Consequently, people built their homes in the riverbed, because building on sand was much easier than chiseling into rock.

But by October the rains came and washed these flimsy homes away.

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Anyone who built their house on sand, as opposed to rock, suffered from two fatal flaws: laziness and shortsightedness. 

They didn’t want to put the work into having a lasting home. And they failed to foresee the winter rains.

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Similarly, Jesus tells us that faith is hard work. It demands effort, much like chiseling into rock.

But when the storms of life come barreling towards us, we will survive. Anyone without faith, on the other hand, can easily be swept away.

How has my faith helped me to endure different challenges in life?

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That’s what faith is for – to give us hope in times of trial, patience in times of temptation, and joy all the days in between.

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John Stephen Akhwari was chosen to represent Tanzania in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

Though his chances of winning the marathon were slim, they dropped to zero after he was nearly trampled to death by a group of other runners jockeying for position.

In a matter of seconds, Akhwari fell to the ground, gashed and dislocated his knee, and smashed his shoulder against the pavement.

After receiving emergency medical treatment, he pushed the doctors away, got up and continued the race.

Almost an hour after the winner was crowned – and nearly every spectator left the stadium – Akhwari stumbled across the finish line, his bandages flapping in the wind.

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When asked why he didn’t quit, Akhwari said:

“My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”

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Like an Olympic athlete, Saint Paul has run the race of life to the finish. In spite of being beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned, and left for dead, he never gave up.

He kept the faith. 

“All that awaits me now,” he says in our first reading, “is the crown of righteousness.”

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Like Saint Paul, at times our Christian journey can leave us feeling trampled down by grief, anger, and loss.

This is certainly true as we remember the many lives lost – and forever changed – by 9/11.

But Paul exhorts today to get back up. We always do as a nation – and we always should as Christians.

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Perhaps it’s the best way to honor the fallen – to continue running this race of life, keeping the faith that promises us our loved ones are just beyond the finish line.

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As a priest, I do not select the readings we hear at Mass. They follow a two-year cycle.

I find it no coincidence then, that as we approach the 19^th anniversary of September 11^th, we’re given Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness.

“Love your enemies,” he says, “and pray for those who persecute you.”

Is the Lord inviting us to forgive those who’ve hurt us immensely, even if they aren’t sorry?

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Forgiveness is first and foremost for our own sake. 

Countless studies have shown that withholding forgiveness raises our blood pressure, deprives us of sleep, and weakens our immune system. It continues the pain someone else has already caused.

Jesus wants to take that suffering from us. But first we must let our anger go.

This is perhaps what makes forgiveness so hard.

While we have the absolute right to be angry – we have suffered unjustly, countless lives were forever changed – forgiveness means we forfeit the right to be angry.

Only then can the Spirit settle in our hearts and fill us with peace.

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As it’s written in the Letter of Saint James, “Always act as men and women destined for judgment under the law of freedom.”

In the end, the Lord will hold us all accountable for how generous – or destructive – our lives have been.

May we continue along the path of peace and reconciliation wherever possible, as we entrust the souls of the just to the Lord.