Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Matthew 7: 21, 24-27

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.

“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 Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel is the conclusion of a long sermon by Jesus, centering around a person choosing to live either a moral or an immoral life. 

Throughout his sermon, Jesus juxtaposes two different images: a wide gate versus a narrow one; sheep versus wolves; a good tree versus a rotten tree; true disciples versus false ones; and today, a house build on rock versus a house built on sand.

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Why must our foundation be solid rock, instead of sand? 

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Both surfaces can be built upon… until the floods come rushing in.

The rock withstands the force, while the sand is washed away grain by grain, splitting whatever was built upon it. Such is the person who lives an immoral life. They snap under pressure, give into temptation, and ultimately succumb to divine judgment.

Notice Jesus never guarantees his disciples a pain free life; everyone will experience an occasional storm. And, in some cases, our suffering only increases when we choose to follow him.

Walking the steep path of virtue can be trying; trusting in God demands patience; building our lives upon divine mysteries is difficult.

But the truly wise in this world not only recognize the divinity of Christ; they also recognize him as their firm foundation, so much so that no trial sweeps away their character, their hope, or their faith. Rather, they stand upon solid rock.

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When did I face a storm or crisis in life? Was Christ my firm foundation? What difference did it make?

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May the Lord grant us the grace, not only to hear his Word, but also to build our lives upon it so that nothing, not even death, can sweep us away.

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Image credits: (1) theLLabBB (2) House Built on Rock, Debbie Clark, Etsy (3) Adobe stock

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Gospel: Mark 16: 15-20

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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A businessman once approached Mark Twain with a false piety, proclaiming: 

“Before I die, I intend to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I want to climb to the top of Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud.”

To which Twain responded, “I have a better idea. Why don’t you stay right at home in Boston and keep them?”

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Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis Xavier, a priest of the 16^th century who travelled extensively throughout Asia, baptizing over 40,000 people, following the command from Christ in today’s Gospel.

While that’s a remarkable feat, baptism was simply the first day in these Christians’ journeys. 

Like that businessman from Boston, they’d be challenged to not only accept the faith, but also to live it out day by day.

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We face the same challenge.

As we enter into this Advent season, how is the Lord inviting us to live out our baptism in a deeper way?

Maybe that means becoming more aware of Christ in our neighbor, especially the poor and downtrodden. For example, Americans are forecasted to spend $1 trillion this holiday season. Yet most of us don’t need another sweater or an extra pair of socks. 

But there are plenty who do. We should not forget the victims who lost everything in Hurricane Melissa. Or those who go without inside our own borders.

How different might our society be if we spent more on the poor than on those with plenty this Christmas?

Perhaps living out our baptism means growing in the virtues of faith, hope, and love; or being intentional about letting go of a grudge or a lingering habit; or more deliberate about spending time in prayer.

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As Mark Twain might say, “Whatever the Lord is inviting you to do, just stay here and do it.”

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Image credits: (1) Grace Lutheran Church (2) Saint Francis Baptizing, Britannica, 18th century (3) Stockcake

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Isaiah 11: 1-10

On that day,
A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
A Spirit of counsel and of strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,
and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.
Not by appearance shall he judge,
nor by hearsay shall he decide,
But he shall judge the poor with justice,
and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
Justice shall be the band around his waist,
and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea.

On that day,
The root of Jesse,
set up as a signal for the nations,
The Gentiles shall seek out,
for his dwelling shall be glorious.

The Word of the Lord.

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We are reminded constantly in scripture that God does the impossible.

When darkness seems overwhelming, suddenly a light appears.

When hope is nearly lost, a door is opened.

Or, using the imagery from our first reading, when a tree is cut down to its roots, a shoot sprouts up, a bud blossoms. 

Life continues, even if in a way that is different than one imagined.

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These words come from the prophet Isaiah while Israel is living in exile. Their land has been invaded, their homes have been destroyed, and their king has been dethroned.

As the Psalmist cries out, “You have rejected and spurned… your anointed… You have hurled down his throne to the ground… How long, O LORD?”  

Israel has been cut down like a tree to its stump. 

But the Lord promises them, “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse.” Life will go on. A king will come, ushering in divine justice and everlasting peace.

We see this promise fulfilled in Jesus. 

When God takes on flesh, he fulfills his promise from long ago; he has come to save us. And when he was nailed to a tree, then placed in a tomb, and all seemed lost, he did the impossible again. 

A shoot sprouts; a bud blossoms; life gushes forth from the tomb as he is raised from the dead!

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What’s the “stump” in my own life? What part of me seems cut down, in need of renewal?

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Advent is the time for us to deepen our faith in the Lord, trusting that whenever we feel reduced to our roots, a shoot shall sprout, a bud shall blossom.

New life will come, even in ways we never imagined.

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Image credits: (1) Mourning Mercies (2) Philip Lymbery (3) iStock