BIBLE STUDY #32
NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
March 6, 2011


Gospel Mt 7:21-27

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.
Many will say 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 I 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

The first sentence of today’s Gospel is one that we should all tape to the mirrors in our bathrooms so we can see it every day. It is an admonishment to all those who think that they have it made, that there is no need for improvement, for those who are self righteous, and for those who are judgmental of others. It also seems to me that prophecy, driving our demons, and doing mighty deeds, by themselves, aren’t good enough for us to be saved.

Jesus attacks certain people who think that they are true disciples, but actually are false prophets. They are ones who profess belief, but do not practice the things they believe in. They are lax about the Church’s moral teachings: they don’t deny these teachings, but they ignore them. Included in this group are people who are antinomians: they believe that the moral law isn’t necessary because faith alone is necessary for salvation.

There are many groups of people like this today. I will comment on a few groups, but it is not an exhaustive list.

There are those who think that their religion is right and others are wrong, and that salvation comes only if you believe exactly like them. Jesus tells us that only those who do the will of the Father are saved. Does the will of the Father include being judgmental, exclusive, and prejudice? I don’t think so. What’s ironic is that more than one group thinks like that. Some (or all of them) are obviously wrong. There was a group like this who snuck into my seminary one day and left books in the chapel with the title, “Are Catholics really Christian?” We weren’t offended, but had a good laugh. Did they really think that they were going to convert catholic seminarians to their idea of faith? The Church teaches us to respect other people’s beliefs, and that no one can be forced to be catholic. To paraphrase Pope Benedict on his trip to the U.S. “We respect all people’s beliefs, but we propose Jesus Christ.”

There are those who want to be spiritual, but not religious. What a lot of nonsense. Can’t be done. Spirituality is the theoretical (or theological) aspect of our relationship to God and others. Being religious is the practical aspect. Religion helps us to live our faith in practice everyday in the real world. Spirituality tells us to love God and others; religion tells us how to do that. Those who try to separate these two things don’t want to pay the cost of discipleship. They want to decide about faith on their own without the help of anyone else (this is the easy way, but to no avail). Do you see role reversal here? Is doing the will of the Father telling God what faith is about, or is it letting God guide and direct us in the ways of faith? The latter, I believe.

There are those who we call ‘cafeteria’ Catholics, which means that they pick and choose what to believe. It is like going through a line at a cafeteria: you don’t take everything offered, just what looks good to you and you ignore the rest. There are those who will pray and go to church, but that’s it: they like that, so they ignore the rest (for the most part, anyway). There are others who like to help out their neighbors, but barely darken the door of the church (except occasionally, like major holidays). Being a person of faith means accepting the whole package. Our personality, gifts, and talents will lead us in a certain direction in serving God. We can emphasize our strengths while working on our faults. Following the will of the Father requires us to accept what our faith teaches us, whether we like it or not.

I could come up with more examples of the type of people Jesus is admonishing in the gospel, but I think you get what I mean.

What, then, does it mean to follow Jesus? I will give you a few ideas, especially since Lent is coming soon, but it is not an exhaustive list. I’m sure you could think of things to add to my list.

I think we all need to learn more about our faith. How can we follow Jesus if we don’t know what he taught? How can we be good Catholics if we don’t know what the church teaches? Can anyone name and explain one gospel parable? How many of you have ever read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or even have one? That is why programs such as WhyCatholic? are so important. They help to nurture and guide us as we try to grow in faith. I hope my internet bible study does the same. It has helped me tremendously in not only preparing for my homilies, but also to learn more about scripture and to grow in my own faith.

The gospel for Ash Wednesday lists the three traditional religious practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This is a good shortcut to use to examine ourselves to see where we need improvement.

PRAYER. We are all called to be people of prayer and sacraments. We are called to weekly mass and daily prayer. This is how we build our relationship with God. We would never build a relationship with another human being without spending time with them, talking to them, and doing things with them. It works the same with God. A weekly commitment to Mass is essential to our spiritual growth. Mass is the source and foundation of all we are as Catholics. We just can’t do without it; the same with daily prayer. We don’t need to spend a lot of time in prayer, no do we necessarily need formal prayers (although this is an option). We can take a few minutes several times a day in prayer: while driving, in the shower, doing household chores, and all those times during the day when we are doing mindless things.

FASTING. This is much broader than just abstaining from food. By fasting we mean giving something up, so we need to get rid anything that keeps us from God, such as greed, envy, prejudice, laziness, or any other sin you can think of. This category is not only giving up our sins, but increasing our virtue by doing better at loving, caring, being kind, forgiving more, and the like. Is there any area of your life that needs improvement.

ALMSGIVING. It is important to support the church and other charities financially, as well. This also signifies reaching out to others in need. Are we generous with our time, talent, and treasure? Can we improve any in this area?

Another way to examine ourselves and our spiritual life is to look at the commission we were given in our baptism to be priests, prophets, and kings and see how we measure up.

I’ve already mentioned prayer. Being a prophet is witnessing to our faith in word and deed. How often do we stand up for our faith when others are ridiculing it? How often do we take the opportunity to explain our faith to others? When co-workers are talking about moral issues at work, such as abortion or the death penalty, do we stand up for what our church teaches? We are all called to be kings like Jesus was a king, not to lord it over others or to tell them what to do, but to serve one another in humility and kindness without prejudice or exclusion.

I think it’s obvious now that the thread that runs through my comments is that faith is both prayer and action. It’s not an either/or, but a both/and. God has given us gifts and talents to use for the building up of the kingdom. Faith is not just my relationship with God, nor is it just my relationship with others, but it is both.

Jesus tells us to build our house on rock. Is it a coincidence that the name Peter means ‘rock’? Doesn’t Jesus tell Simon that “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church (Matthew 16:18)?” When we build our lives on the teachings of Jesus and the church built on the rock called Peter, there is nothing or no one that will prevail against us. We won’t be shaken in difficult times. Our faith and our salvation will be strong and sure. If we choose to build our house on the sand of our own opinions, desires, and wants, we may be in for a big surprise.

One of the difficulties of our faith is that we call it a religion, which, too many people, means rules and regulations. We fall into the trap of wanting to know the rules and regulations we need to follow, so once we complete them, we can get on with our lives. A better way is to think of our faith is as a philosophy of life, which is something ingrained in us and affects every decision we make and everything we do. A good philosophy of life is a set of guiding principles that should lead us to a better life. We are more inclined to learn about our philosophy than our religion. And it will keep us from being one of those people Jesus condemns.


Fr. Phil