Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Like a Fool

I was going through my copy of “Preparing the Roman Catholic Liturgy: A Workbook for Engaged Couples,” looking for the appropriate readings for our wedding ceremony, and I found this:

Matthew 7:21, 24-29

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.”


I couldn’t help but feel a connection to the words “The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” Our house is built neither on rock nor sand, but perhaps there’s a lesson here. I'm not sure what that lesson is. Sure, there’s a message about following the teachings of Jesus, but I think the choice of metaphor is interesting. For us, the metaphor is the reality. “The rain fell … the winds blew and buffeted .. the it collapsed and was [partially] ruined.” Fortunately, we have insurance, and someday they might even pay us something that will hopefully help fund the rebuilding efforts. We will rebuild, not on rock but also not on sand, and hopefully, that will be ok.

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