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.”
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Reflection:
There is
a story about an old man who was always at church, he attends Mass, and he was
always present during novena prayers. However, he also has this domineering
attitude, he thinks highly of himself and he treats everyone in the church as
someone who is not within his level.
After a
few years he died, Therefore, he was expecting a smooth passage to heaven but
Saint Peter did not allow him to enter the pearly gates. So he asked: “Why are
you not allowing me to gain entry to heaven, I was always at church leading the
novena prayers, I was always at Mass!” Saint Peter replied: “Yes you were always
in the church but you did not change your ways, it was all for show.”
A lot of
us are like the old man, we are active in the church, we attend Holy Mass but
we refuse to let go of our boorish behavior, we think highly of ourselves
simply because many of us are rich and educated. Then we carry over these domineering
behaviors into our home and our workplace.
Could we
gain entry into heaven with this behavior? Can we be compared to the wise man
in the gospel who built his house upon a sturdy rock? Not certainly, to become
the wise man who built his house on a solid rock we need to walk our talk and
we need to live what we preach.
In the
gospel, 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 (Matthew 7:21).” – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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