June 26, 2014 Thursday
12th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading:
2 Kgs 24:8-17 Gospel:
Matthew 7:21-29
Jesus said to his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me: Lord! Lord! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not speak in your name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in your name?” Then I will tell them openly: I have never known you; away from me, you evil people!
“So, then, anyone who hears these words of mine and acts accordingly is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated Life
Experience)
Words not sanctioned by the heart cannot deliver a prayer. Shakespeare came close to this idea when he wrote: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thoughts never to heaven go.” This principle finds support in today’s Gospel where Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me “Lord! Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father.”
In tragic times, people troop to their churches trying to win God by emotional words even as their hearts are stuck somewhere in the muddy world of permissiveness. While we cannot undermine the power of grace to produce instant converts, grace rarely overrides human nature which abhors short cuts. Overnight conversions are usually skin-deep because profound conversion involves a process.
Many people remember God only in times of need. “DYOS KO! DYOS KO!” is their cry when in self pity, but they go “DISCO, DISCO” when in prosperity. Jesus is “remembered” only in times of calamity but ‘dismembered’ in times of prosperity. The word “dismembered” takes us to the concept of Church as One Body of Christ dismembered when prosperous members cut themselves off from Church circulation until the next time they need God.
Calling on God only when in deep crisis is not a reliable sign of conversion. A good test of genuine conversion is one’s willingness to go through the crisis for some time until God deems it timely to bail them out. This is what Jesus means in saying, “Not everyone who says to me “Lord! Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father.” – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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