THURSDAY, DEC 7
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.”
Grace: I ask for the grace to know Jesus in a deeper way that I may abundantly love and follow him.
Jesus makes a distinction between those who merely cry out to him and those who do the will of his Father. Such a distinction is observable in our everyday experience as the grace of God is accessible at every moment. It is a difference between those of us that merely pay lip service to our aspirations and those that take solid steps toward them, thus allowing our actions to speak louder than our words. How often do we find ourselves aspiring to great acts for God? Or, more commonly, how often do we imagine we will complete some chore, go to the gym, or make an apology, but reach the end of the day without having made any progress towards our goal? In these flights of our imagination we are constructing our houses on sand, easily washed away by our innately human capacity to put off for tomorrow. We rationalize our reluctance and forgive ourselves superficially when in fact, within us; we know that we have failed.
Christ does not condemn us, but calls us to more—he calls us in these moments to dream of how we might be a force for good in the world, and to live with the strength, and grace of the Spirit. He asks us to imbue each action we take with love and in this way to better serve God’s will and further the mission of building the kingdom of heaven. Notice that both men mentioned do the same thing, namely build a house; it is how they do it, whether building it on rock or on sand that differentiates them. Just so, it is how we go about completing the daily tasks of our lives—whether blindly going through the motions or striving to embody a spirit of grace which marks us as followers of Christ.
For Reflection and Prayer:
Which areas of your life do you feel you might be building on sand rather than rock?
Today how has Christ shown you the foundation to build upon while doing the will of His Father?
The photo below was taken while on pilgrimage in Spain. Are you on pilgrimage this Advent?
Close your prayer time by praying a familiar prayer such as the Our Father, Glory Be, or Hail Mary.
The Contributor:
Ana Frietze is a wife, mother, and spiritual director with training in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life through the Magis Program of San Antonio. Ana has a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry from Oblate School of Theology and is a facilitator at OST’s Instituto de Formación Pastoral and Spanish spiritual director formation program, Espiritualidad y Direccíon Espiritual.
Learn more about Magis Ignatian Spirituality Programs
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.