Today's Advent Meditation: The Daily Gospel with Fr. Philippe, O.P.


Gospel: Mt 7:21, 24-27

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. 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.”

Reflection

To build our house on rock we must always be more deeply rooted in Jesus. Each of us has to construct this house. To find the rock it is necessary to find the wound of Christ's heart; one must find His love and live from it. There we are no longer content with saying, "Lord, Lord." Christ's love must seize our will in the most concrete way, in its deepest demands and in all our desire to belong completely to Christ. Someone who calls, "Lord, Lord," and claims to love remains in an intention which is still a whim because it does not seize everything. Our intention to belong to Christ should take hold of everything. Let us be true in our whole life.

May the Virgin Mary always be there, ever more present in our life to allow the passage from this deep intention in our heart to the concrete realization in our life.

~ Father Marie Dominique Philippe, OP, Priest, Philosophy Professor, Founder of the Community of St. John, from The Daily Gospel with Father Philippe, OP
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