St. John of Damascus, priest, doctor

Images are books for the illiterate and silent heralds of the honor of the saints,

teaching those who see, with a soundless voice and sanctifying the sight. 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Isaiah 26:1-6

On that day

This song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city, he himself has set up walls and fortifications to protect us.

Open the gates! Let the righteous nation enter, she who is firm in faithfulness.

You keep in perfect peace the one of steadfast mind, the one who trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting Rock. He brought down those who dwell on high,

he laid low the lofty city, he razed it to the ground, leveled it to the dust, now it is trampled; the poor and the lowly tread upon it.

 

Ps 118:1 & 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊     

Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples, Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord! Lord!'

will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father.

"Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine, and acts according to them,

is like a wise man, who built his house on rock.

 

The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house.

But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine,

and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured,

the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!"

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Christ, our Rock."

News reports occasionally show footage of houses floating away in a flash flood,

or a building falling off a sandy cliff that has been eroded away by torrential rain.

The images are startling and bring home to us the importance of building our lives on a solid foundation.

 

Isaiah encourages us to trust in the Lord, and to recognize that the Lord is the only solid,

unshakable point in a world of change. We can rely on him because he's solid as a rock.

When other things fail, God will still be there, so we need to make sure that we start from him,

and not build our lives on some passing whim or hollow ideology.

 

Isaiah links the steadfastness of God with a steadfastness of mind in those who trust in God.

If we ground our lives on the Lord, our perspective will remain steady, even when we are faced with all sorts of challenges,

whether on a personal level or on the broader level of society.

Saint John Damascene prayed that we might "prove steadfast, unflinching, immovable,

founded on the solid Rock which is Christ." Let's build all aspects of our lives on Christ our Rock.