Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
The two houses
“I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed”. Lk 6,47-49
Today’s Gospel shows us two houses: the first is built on the rock, it resists the storms and it is the one in which we all would like to live. The other, built on the ground, is instead destined to collapse at the arrival of bad weather, and no one would choose it as a home. The immediacy of these pictures let us behold almost physically the ruin which, sooner or later, will overwhelm those who choose not to build their life on Jesus Christ and the values of the Gospel. A few days ago we were thinking about the sudden fall of the sentimental and professional situation of a good friend of ours. We were deeply worried by our inability to help him and, at the same time, very impressed of how quick his breakdown was, since he was in situation many considered as enviable until shortly before. “But it was unfortunately a castle built on the sand!” dad explained. Very often, in fact, the origin of situations which inexplicably become complicated and painful is to be found in choices that lead us away from the project of goodness and love that the Lord has for each of us. You may choose to build on the sand of impulses, sentimentality and passions; realities which, as they take us away from God’s grace, deprive us of his protection. The relativism prevailing in today’s culture has accustomed us to justify everything, confusing the Gospel imperative not to judge others with the indifferent acceptance of any behaviour, even the farthest value from the ones of the Gospel. So we risk confusing everything and losing the sense of today’s teaching: only the houses built on the rock of God’s grace can stand the storms of life. They will always be there for everybody, but those who have chosen to base their lives on the teachings of the Gospel will receive the strength to resist until the return of good weather.