Cycle A - 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deut 11:18-26; Rom 3:21-25; Mt 7:21-27
All the ancient monuments, buildings and sculptures that are surviving till today are built on rock. The Ajanta Caves are a series of 29 Buddhist cave temples in Ajanta, India. They are built on rock. The huge stone structures remain a marvel even today. These are one of the masterpieces of pictorial art.
Another marvel that survives the test of time is the Kailash temple. It is part of a complex of over thirty temples that cover over two kilometres. Kailash was built in the eighth century BC and it is believed that two hundred thousand tons of rocks were removed during the construction of these impressive historical monuments. It but stands proud as the biggest monolithic temple in the world.
The most famous Islamic site in Jerusalem is the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat as-Sakhrah). An impressive and beautiful edifice, the Dome of the Rock can be seen from all over Jerusalem. It is the crowning glory of the Haram es-Sharif ("Noble Sanctuary"), or Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock is the oldest Islamic monument that stands today and certainly one of the most beautiful. It also boasts the oldest surviving mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca) in the world.
There are also many examples of huge structures that collapsed after a short period of time. The fall of Karnak temple is one such example. The Karnak temple complex is huge, covering a site almost a mile by two miles in area. There are over 25 temples and chapels in the complex. Many reasons are given for the fall of this amazing structure. They call it engineering defects.
Today’s readings convey the same message. Anything that has a strong foundation will survive the test of time, and those that are built on weak foundations will crumble against forces of nature. Human life also is the same. All the people who build their life on value systems live beyond their time.
In the reading from the book of Deuteronomy, Moses warns Israelites that they will be blessed if they obey the commandments of the Lord, but cursed if they reject God’s words and go after pagan gods. St. Paul, in the second reading, asserts that men are now justified and sanctified by believing in Christ and following his precepts. In other words, we are made righteous by our faith in Jesus through the grace given to us “as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” In today’s gospel which is the concluding part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us two warnings: that we must match our profession of faith with actual obedience to the will of God and that we must build a life on the firm foundation of His teachings. Thus He warns us against over-confidence and self-complacency.
Relying on self-complacency is like building castles on the sand. There are sandcastle-building competitions on many American beaches. The sandcastle-building enthusiasts are given a plot of sand, about thirty feet by thirty feet, and with their team of ten people, they create exotic sandcastles, sand dragons and sand animals. There are teams of professional sand-sculptors who travel the sand beaches of the west coast, weekend after weekend during the summer months, creating exotic, incredible works of art in the sand. The people walk through this myriad of sand sculptures, all glorious in their detail, like in a wonderland of sand fantasies, and we marvel as we walk from one creation to another. But within six hours, the tide comes in and wipes everything away, so hardly a trace of the artistic beauty remains and with a few tides’ coming and going, there is not a single trace of the sandcastles and sand dragons.
In today’s gospel Jesus makes a pointed comparison between a man building on sand, and one who builds solidly on rock. Hence, we have to give a strong foundation for our life.
First of all we have to give a strong foundation for our personal life. Our personal life must be based on a strong foundation of virtues. A drowning man cannot save another drowning person. If he tries to do so both will drown together. Likewise, unless we have strong convictions based on the teachings of Jesus, and the example of saints, we will be absorbed by the materialistic approach of the society, and we will lose the direction. That is why many people fail to discover the purpose of their life. They are left in this vast world, like a ship without a compass in the vast expanse of the ocean. St Paul spent days and nights in solitude and prayer to equip himself to begin his ministry. St Francis retired to the silence of night to be in the Presence of Jesus before he began the next day. All the saints and holy men spent time in silent prayer, to strengthen the foundation of their life. Derive strength from the words of Jesus, and his consoling presence, so that we can translate our words into action.
Secondly, we need to give a strong foundation for our family. The cornerstone of a solid foundation for the family is Christian faith, affirmed and lived out. There can be no great marriage and no great family without a solid foundation. We are all in the family-building process, parents, children and extended family, and none of us can cheat on the foundation if we want our home to last. Edwin Markham has written a little story called “The Builder”. A certain rich man wanted to help someone. He saw the squalor in which a certain poor carpenter lived with his large family. The rich man sent for the carpenter and placed in his hands the blueprint for a nice home. He ordered that the house be made beautiful and sturdy, and that the best materials be used, regardless of the price. He further explained that he was going on an extended trip and wanted the house completed when he returned. Seeing the chance to make a huge profit, the carpenter skimped on materials, hired inexperienced workers at low wages, and covered mistakes with paint. When the rich man returned the carpenter handed him the keys to the house and told him that his instructions had been carried out to the letter. Good, replied the rich man as he returned the keys to him. For the house that you have been building is yours. You and your family are to live in it. In the years that followed, concluded Markham, the builder often regretted that he had cheated himself. You and I are building houses with either good or shoddy material. We are building according to code or we are cutting corners. Jesus warned us to build our houses wisely, because the keys are going to be handed to us and we are going to have to live with what we have created. Family get together and family prayers will help to understand one another, feel other’s aspirations, appreciate other’s ambitions, share the anxieties and support one another. That is the foundation for building a strong family.
When a strong foundation is made for the personal and family life, it will empower us to face the storms and challenges of life. The challenges that people meet are different in different centuries. In the first centuries the Christians met with persecution. Many gave up their life for their faith. In the middle ages the Christians were threatened by divisions in the Church. In our time the challenges that we have to face are different: family breakdown, estrangement of parents and children, alienation between the members of the society, rivalry between societies and casual approach to value systems. There is a need to strengthen the bond between couple. There is a need to strengthen the bond between parents and children. There is a need to strengthen the bod between the members of the society. There is a need to strengthen the bond between the societies. Accept the challenge and be ambassadors of change.
Jesus is always with us with the offer of help to empower us. What we need is only to surrender us. Let us pray with Thomas Merton:
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Satish
Anecdotes for Sunday
Faith in Prayer
Twelve-year-old Irmgard Wood lived in Stuttgart, Germany, during World War II. One morning her mother and her sister saw an American plane catch fire and fall from the sky. Instinctively, they prayed for the pilot, even though he was an American.
Years later, the Wood family migrated to America. Irmgard’s mother got a job in a hospital in California. One day a patient detected her German accent and asked her where she lived in Germany. “Stuttgart,” she said. The patient replied. “I almost got killed in Stuttgart during World War II. One morning my plane caught fire and fell from the sky. Somebody must have been praying for me.”
“More things are wrought through prayer than this world dreams of.” –Alfred Tennyson
Faith and Rain
After four years of drought in the little village, the parish priest gathered everybody to make a pilgrimage to the mountain; there they would join in common prayer service to ask for rain.
In the middle of the group the parish priest noticed a boy all wrapped up in warm clothes and covered by a raincoat. “Are you crazy” he asked. “It hasn’t rained in this region for five years and you’ll die of the heat climbing the mountains!”
“I’ve got a cold, father. If we are going to pray to God for rain, can you imagine the climb back down? The downpour is going to be heavy that it’s better to be prepared.” At that very moment a coud roar was heard in the sky and the first drops began to fall. The faith of a boy was enough to work a miracle that thoughsands of men were praying for.
“While faith makes all things possible, it is love that makes all things easy.