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. Many will day to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord. did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?' Then will declare to them solemnly, ' I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.'
"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."
When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
The Word in other Words
A story is told of a very hungry hyena. While hunting for food, he came to a thicket where he saw two goats at the far end of two different paths, With his mouth watering in anticipation, he took the right path with his right leg and the left path with his left leg. As the two paths veered father apart, he tried to follow them both at once. Finally, he split into two. Hence, the African proverb: Two roads overcame the hyena.
Today's gospel reminds us of the folly of splitting ourselves- calling to Jesus, "Lord, Lord', yet not doing the will of the Father. For many of us, consistency in words and deeds is a huge mountain to climb.
A case in point: our country the Philippines. The irony is that it is oftentimes ruled by corrupt politicians and government officials who mostly are Catholics. We wonder: Are they corrupt because they are Catholics, or are they Catholics because they are corrupt? The two seem to have causative relationship. Yet, even if we succeed in arguing that being a Catholic has nothing to do with being corrupt or vice versa, it would not stop us from questioning how Catholic politicians and government officials could have no social conscience so as to steal from the people the have pledged to serve?
Selfishness is our greatest enemy. Our inability to concretize our faith and live it out in every aspect of our life is, in many ways, triggered by self-seeking ambitions. Even our acts of worship are oftentimes motivated by our demands that God would grant our request for material blessings. "Lord, I pray that I'll get salary increment this year, so that I will still have my car. Without it, how could I continue attending Mass on Sunday?" said the proud owner of an SUV`.
We all have a long way to go towards fulfilling our Christian calling. The spiritual imprint we received during baptism is just the beginning of an arduous journey that is meant to change our lives as well as inspire others to do the same. Our words and deeds often lack coherence, and our 'Lord, Lord' utterances are not always predicated on doing God's will.
- Fr. Narciso Cellan, SVD (Kenya)
