Faith-Will of God-Kingdom of Heaven

HOMILY WEEK 12 04 – Year II

Building a Solid House of Discipleship

(2 Kg 24:8-17; Ps 79; Mt 7:21-19)

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How many of us have construction experience?

Today, Jesus once again speaks in metaphors to get his point across. He asks us to build a house. The house we are asked to build is the house of a life of discipleship, following Jesus and doing his ministry.

The foundation for the house has to be like a rock. According to the gospel, that foundation is the will of God and the words of Jesus. Nothing else will stand the test of time.

There are a variety of ways that house can be built, ways we can act on the Word of Jesus and do the will of the Father. We can love the Father through a life of prayer, of intimate conversation with the Father, and worship. The teachings of Jesus that we are to keep can be summarized by the following: the eight Beatitudes or eight ways of being in this world; the commandment to love one’s enemies, and the Great Commandment to love God, and love others as we love ourselves. Living all these out in our daily lives is certainly to keep the words of Jesus, and to be doing the will of the Father.

Another way that we can keep the words of Jesus, do the will of the Father and build a solid life as a disciple is to practice what I like to call Teepee Spirituality – that is, to balance faith, fellowship and self-awareness in our ministry and our lives.

It is clear in the gospel the pole of faith is not enough. That is to risk religious addiction. As Jesus puts it, it is not those who say “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven. We need to balance faith and prayer with the other two poles of fellowship and self-awareness.

Annie was complaining to Adele about her rebellious daughter. Adele asked her what she was doing to address the situation. Annie replied she was praying hard for her daughter. Adele responded by asking her if she ever sat down with her daughter to have a heart-to-heart talk with her, and the reply was “No” – she had not thought of that. Fellowship, or Incarnational spirituality, was missing here.

One man sobered up after years of drinking when he found Jesus. The problem is he started preaching about Jesus to everyone in the community, almost making a nuisance of himself. One day he invited me over for a session in which he said we would listen to his adult children. However, he started preaching for half an hour. I finally stopped him and asked his children how they felt about what was happening. The oldest said she thought their dad should stop preaching to the whole village, and start listening to his family and the pain that he had put them through when he was drinking. He leaned forward and waved his hands before her face to stop her, not wanting to go into that pain. I left at that point, realizing this was religious addiction, relying only on prayer and preaching, and resisting any genuine fellowship.

The other two poles, self-awareness and fellowship, are necessary to balance out the pole of prayer. We need to know who we are, our sins, defects and personal qualities, and place all that before God, as well as share that with others to the extent we can, in sharing groups, to soul-mates, and in confession.

Then, with prayer and faith, fellowship and friendship, self-knowledge and self-awareness, we will have a solid foundation on which to build a life of effective discipleship, keeping the words of Jesus and doing the will of the Father. We will be living out the gospel: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.”

A psychiatric nurse can serve as an example for us. She was told the lurid history of a certain patient who had committed a terrible crime, had served his time and now was sent to the hospital to die. He did not want anyone to know what he had done and could not believe that God could forgive his crime so he resisted any attempt at reconciliation. The chaplain tried to persuade him but he consistently refused. The nurse, however, showed him every courtesy. She tucked him in at night, provided him with little favors, remembered his birthday, asked about his family and wrote him notes on her day off and developed a friendship with him.

Near the end his closest friend came to see him and begged him to be reconciled with God. He persisted in his belief that God could not forgive him. In desperation, the friend reminded him of the love the nurse had shown him and suggested that God could do the same. The man replied that if the nurse knew what he had done, she too would reject him. The friend then confessed that he had told the nurse his whole story when he entered so she knew. The man was stunned and astonished. He broke down into tears, saying that if she could love him knowing all that he had done, then God also could love him.

The Eucharist that is part of our tradition since Jesus gave it to us, is certainly hearing the words of Jesus, inviting us to keep them and doing the will of the Father. May our celebration help us build a house of solid discipleship founded on the rock of doing God’s will and acting on the teachings of Jesus.