Deacon Larry

 

Thursday of 1st Week of Advent

Is 26: 1-6; Mt 7: 21, 24-27

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

What kind of a foundation is your life built on?  You know, today’s Gospel story talks about two houses- one built on sand, and the other built on rock.  Have you ever thought about the fact that the houses themselves were actually built identically?  There is nothing in the Gospel to indicate anything different.  From all external appearances, they would then look pretty much the same to start because only the foundations were different; and so, only the ability of the houses to stand up to the storms was different.   

Now, just think about all of us human beings for a minute.  We are all built nearly identically as well.  We all have mouths and noses and feet and eyes in the same places.  We are all born as babies, and we are nourished in our formative years by our mothers; and so when we grow up, from external appearances, we are all pretty much alike.   

But then sometime during the course of our lives, we are buffeted by storms of one kind or another.  The storms are the things outside of us that enter into our lives- the environment that we face each day; the people we meet that influence us; and the circumstances that present themselves that force us to make decisions- decisions about play and school and work and marriage and all the rest.  These are all normal storms of life, the tide of real life that confronts each and every one of us.  And no matter how isolated we would like to be from these storms; we are all still confronted with the reality of life.   

The thing that matters the most when we are confronted by the tide of life is this:  Just what is the foundation that our lives were built on?  Is it an absolute truth, like the values represented in the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Or is our foundation one that is relative- relative to the times; relative to the person who has our ear today; or relative to whatever seems the easiest course of action.  Because if you embrace a foundation that is relative, that means you can be floating all over the place, taking this position today and that tomorrow.  Eventually, you will be torn to pieces, just like the house built on sand because that floating foundation means that you never come to grips with what is right or wrong, and that will eventually tear you apart inside.   

Make your foundation a solid one- solid as rock.  Listen to what the Gospel preaches.  It is consistent and although it may be hard at times, you always know where you are- safe with Jesus Christ. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 at 11:06 pm and is filed under Holy Family Weekday Homilies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.