Saturday, 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus, in today’s gospel reading, speaks about the solid foundation of our life. It is not sufficient merely to listen to Jesus’ words. Disciples must also act upon them. Disciples who listen but do not act upon Jesus’ words are like a builder who constructed his house without a foundation.
Joseph Krempa has this commentary and reflection: “If the foundation of our life is the Lord Jesus, the foundation of our Christian life is discipleship – putting his words into practice.” “The Lord is stating that spiritual, mental or emotional adherence to the Gospel is not sufficient and will prove to be evanescent unless a person starts to slowly shape his or her discipleship into daily life.”
The only true foundation is obedience to the teachings of Jesus. Obedience is listening to Jesus’ words and acting on them. It is listening to his words about loving God “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and about loving “your neighbor as yourself,” and acting on them in our daily life. It is listening to his words about loving our enemies and acting on them by praying for them and by doing good to them. It is listening to his words about having faith in God and acting on them by letting God be God for us in every situation and in everything.
Indeed, it is only by putting faith into action that we can build our life on a solid foundation. We need to express it in our personal involvement and active participation in the life and mission of parish. We need to express it in our practice and concretization of the spirituality of stewardship – sharing our gifts for the building up of the kingdom of God in our midst. We need to express it in feeding the hungry, taking care of the sick, educating the ignorant, giving dependable livelihood to the unemployed, providing decent shelter for the homeless, fighting for the rights and dignity of the poor. We need to express it in everything we engage ourselves in and in every field we enter into. In short, we need to give hands and feet to our beliefs and convictions. Faith is not a dream or an emotion. It is life to be lived.
Parokya ni Osong 