Responders
Wouldn't it be nice if we could be guaranteed a wonderful and easy life?
"Everyone then who hears 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 beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-and great was its fall!"- Matthew 7:24-27
In today's Gospel, Jesus makes a promise. He tells his followers that they will be able to withstand all that beats them down, because they hear and follow his words.
He doesn't say their lives will be great, or that they will avoid hardships. He just says they will remain standing after the storm.
We would all like to believe that we could do something to prevent people from harming others, but no matter what we do, if someone is hell bent on committing murder, he will find a way.
Storms come. Storms of nature and storms of violence will rain down upon us, and we may not be able to escape their fury. Our faith may not protect us from harm, but it will help us through it.
It would be great if we could have assurances that evil will not harm us, that disasters will be avoided and we will be saved from danger, but that isn't in the promise. What we have is strength.
The events of the past month have left many families needing strength. Lives and homes have been shattered and while we struggle to make sense out of it all, looking for answers to questions that no one can answer, we need something solid to hold onto.
Jesus tells us that is his word. Hear the words he speaks and act on them. Love one another. Help one another. Be there for each other.
We can all be responders when trouble comes. We can all run to help those in need and be there for them. We know we can do it because our faith is a rock.
More to come...