Holyrood Church 715 West 179 Street, Upper West side Manhattan, USA, 212-923-3770

A solid construction

 

 

Good morning, happy Thursday, and many blessings.

 

Today’s Gospel (Matthew 7:21-29) presents the last part of the Sermon on the Mount: (a) it is not sufficient to talk and sing, it is necessary to live and to practice (Mt ‪7:21-23‬); (b) the community constructed on the foundation of the new law of the discourse on the mount will remain standing at the moment of the storm (Mt 7:24-27); (c) the words of Jesus are a severe judgment on the contemporary religious leaders, the scribes (Mt 7:28-29).

 

The final conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount is to open oneself and to practice. Many people entrust their security to extraordinary gifts or to observance. But their true security does not come from prestige or from observance. It comes from God! It comes from the love of God who has loved us first (1 Jn ‪4:19‬). His love for us, manifested in Jesus, exceeds everything (Rm 8:38-39). God becomes our source of security when we seek to do His will. There He will be the rock which supports us in the moments of difficulty and storm.

 

To build one's house on sand means to build our lives on things that are unstable and fleeting, things that cannot not withstand the tests of time and the hazards of chance. What are such things? Money, success, fame, and even health and prosperity. Each of those things is good in itself; but none of them is reliable or solid.

 

To build one's house on rock means to base our lives on things that are solid, enduring, things that cannot be carried away with life’s storms. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” Jesus says later in this gospel according to Matthew, “but my words will not pass away.” (24:35) To build our house on rock means building our life on God. Rock is one of the preferred biblical symbols for the God. “Trust in the Lord forever,” we read in the prophet Isaiah, “for the Lord is an eternal rock.” (26:4). The book Deuteronomy says the same: "He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is." (32:4)

 

To build one's house on the rock means, therefore, living in the Church and not remaining on the fringe, at a distance, using the excuse that the Church is filled with hypocrites, dishonesty. and sin. Of course, it is! The Church is made up of sinners like ourselves. But we have come to heal ourselves and heal other people and thus continue building a radical discipleship that advances the life proposal of Jesus.

 

I want to leave you with these questions so that you can meditate and reflect during the day and this way we can be better disciples of Jesus. How does our church seek to balance prayer and action, prayer and practice, to speak and to do, to teach and to practice? What could improve in our church, so that it will be a rock, a secure and welcoming house for all?

 

Blessings

 

Fr. Luis+

Date news: 
Jueves, Junio 25, 2020 - 09:30

Ministerio en el tiempo del Coronavirus (Covid 19): Prevenir, curar y acompañar

Ahora tenemos que darle forma a lo que algun@s han comenzado a llamar; La Iglesia en Casa. Aunque yo me sigo preguntando; ¿qué hacen quienes no tienen un hogar? Por esto a la misma vez, estoy declarando desde hoy en nuestra Iglesia Santa Cruz una jornada de cuaresma de oración, ayuno y leer la Biblia en el Tiempo del Coronavirus.

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