Rock
Saturday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time C-2
Entrance Antiphon Ps 119 (118):137, 124 You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.
Collect O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 10:14-22; Psalm 115; Luke 6:43-49
Jesus said, No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. (Luke 6:43-49)
Rock Earthquakes hit strongly in places as divergent as California, Tennessee, New York, Japan and Brazil. Accordingly, more builders, architects and property owners look for ways to build earthquake-resistant housing. Many construction companies specialize in building these types of structures, and while no design can totally prevent earthquake damage, certain building systems can lessen it. At the time I write this, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the main United States government agency that supports research and education in earthquake engineering. But all through history there has been the problem of constructing buildings that will resist earthquakes. People of the Inca civilization were masters of the polished dry-stone walls where blocks of stone were cut to fit together tightly without any mortar. It is estimated that the Incas were among the best stone masons in human history, and archaeologists state that many junctions in their masonry were so perfect that even blades of grass could not fit between the stones. Peru is a seismic land, and for centuries the mortar-free construction proved to be apparently more earthquake-resistant than using mortar. The stones of the dry-stone walls built by the Incas could move slightly and resettle without the walls collapsing. Of course, it is not only earthquakes that destroy man’s dwellings and meeting places. Tidal waves, torrents of rain and floods sweep them away too. Raging bush and forest fires destroy numerous homes in advanced countries such as Australia and parts of the United States. Speaking of the man who has a solid foundation in life, our Lord uses the example of buildings that are constructed on a secure basis. “He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.” Our Lord had been a carpenter-builder. Doubtlessly he had built homes, and would have laid them on a rock foundation — and the area of his home district of Nazareth was quite rocky. The point of his words in the Gospel today, though, is that our life must be based on a true and secure foundation.
If our life is not built on such a foundation, just as buildings are very vulnerable to flood, wind, fire and earthquake, so will our life be exposed to the danger of complete collapse. A person may make his way to the top of his field, enjoying the favour of the most important persons, and commanding exceptional influence on his society. Despite appearances, though, he is not secure. When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, the priest Thomas Wolsey (1471-1530) became the King's almoner. Wolsey's career prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in virtually all matters of state and was extremely powerful within the Church. He finally became Lord Chancellor, the King's chief adviser and enjoyed great freedom. Within the Church he became Archbishop of York, the second most important see in England, and then was made a cardinal in 1515, giving him precedence over even the Archbishop of Canterbury. But it all came undone over the Great Matter of the King’s marriage. Wolsey could not get the annulment, and he fell totally from favour, being finally arrested for treason and dying soon afterwards. His own private life as a priest was a disgrace. The point here is that his life was built on ambition, and so it was constructed on ground lacking any foundation. His fall was great and tragic. Seven years his junior, Thomas More succeeded Wolsey as Chancellor of England. His was an entirely different case. He was an eminent lawyer, a social philosopher, published author, and statesman. During his life he gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist, a close friend of Erasmus, a bitter opponent of Martin Luther and of Tyndale’s Bible. He was Lord Chancellor for three years, when he resigned over the Great Matter of the divorce. His silence spoke volumes. He would not allow for the divorce, nor for Henry’s declaration that he was Head of Christ’s Church. He went to the scaffold, a saint and a martyr of Christ and the Church. His life was built on rock, the rock that is Christ and his teaching. What a difference between the two — the one an unfaithful and worldly priest, the other a holy layman.
Christ tells us what is the true foundation of life, whatever life may bring in terms of temporal fortunes. Such fortunes come and go, but the foundation has to be true. That foundation is hearing the word of God as it comes to us from the mouth of Christ and the teaching of his representative the Church, and putting it into practice. Successful or unsuccessful in matters of this life as the case may be, the one necessary thing is that we strive to know what God wants and has taught, and then to put it into practice. Let that be our daily goal, and all will be well. As Saint Thomas More said, though I lose my head, I’ll come to no harm.
(E.J.Tyler)
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A Second Reflection: (1 Corinthians 10:14)
The First of the Ten Commandments St Paul tells us we "must keep clear of idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:14). This may seem obvious to us in our educated and civilized age. It refers to the very first of the ten commandments, on which all the others depend: I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods besides me. The point of St Paul's directive then follows. Those who are sacrificing to idols "sacrifice to demons who are not gods. I have no desire to see you in communion with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons." That is to say, they are subjecting themselves to the influence of the devil and acknowledging other things in place of the one God. In our day and age it may be difficult to imagine educated people worshipping idols. But it is not impossible at all to "worship" (let us say) sources of influence other than the one God whom the Church proclaims. One thinks of various forms of fortune telling, astrology, lucky charms, new age techniques, and even openly professed paganism such as the worship of earth goddesses. All of this, St Paul reminds us, opens us to the influence of Satan, and involves a substitution of something in the place of God. It is a serious sin, and it is going on in the modern world.
Let us devote ourselves to God alone, determining to make the sole object of our life to know, love and serve Christ his Son, and to renounce sin and anything that substitutes for God or that entices us away from Him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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