A priceless blueprint

Here in New Jersey it is raining - a lot! There is a flood watch for our area. This winter we had ferocious winds howling around our convent which sits up on a ridge. Fortunately we have never lost electrical power. Since we are on a ridge the house is obviously built on rock. I thought of all of this as I prayed through the Mass readings for this ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In Mark’s Gospel (7:21-17) Jesus talks about building our house on rock:

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.”

The blueprint for building our spiritual house is outlined in the 10 Commandments. The building materials come from God’s Word in Scripture. How do we build? By willingly and eagerly doing God’s will. How do I do that? I thought about that as I prayed with this Gospel and it occurred to me that first of all when I get up in the morning I make an offering of my day to the Lord. I surrender my life anew to him and I tell him that I want to be in His perfect will this day. I pray with the Scripture readings and go to Mass where I receive His body and blood in the Eucharist. Throughout the day I often get little nudges from the Holy Spirit to let me know if I am veering off course. Sometimes I ignore the nudges and do my own thing – not necessarily his will. At night before going to bed I examine my conscience to see how he answered my morning prayer during the day and how I responded or failed to respond.

How is God nudging you these days? Is there some area in your life where you really know you are not in God's will? Or could you be denying or ignoring the whole thing? On Wednesday, we begin the grace-filled season of Lent. Perhaps this is a good time to start remodeling your spiritual house! Take on the project - do it - before the strong winds of temptation come or you get flooded in the ways of our culture today. Confession is a good way to begin! God bless you; let us pray for one another.