Gospel: Mt 7:21, 24-27
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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. “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.”
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When we see a person who regularly goes to Mass, prays the Rosary daily, and goes on pilgrimages but does not treat household helpers well or pay them decent salaries and gives them only “secondhand” food, we cannot help but remark that there must be wrong somewhere! Why the disconnect? Why the inability to practice what the person is supposed to have heard in those religious celebrations? Indeed, it is one thing to be hearing or saying words; another thing is to put them into practice. That is why, perhaps, we learn more from the silence of some unchurched people than from the words of supposedly religious ones. For their actions speak louder than words. And yet we can be blind to this and think that by simply going through the routines of “religiosity” we are already living as Christians. Can you stop and ask yourself whether people are evangelized by your manner of life?
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
