Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
So in today's Gospel we hear these all-important words of our Lord
when he says, enter the kingdom of heaven.
So whenever we hear those words we need to really pay attention
because that is the most important thing, that we enter the kingdom of heaven.
So our Lord says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
That is, not everyone who recognizes Jesus Christ as Lord
will enter the kingdom of heaven.
Our Lord is saying, not all Christians,
those who recognize Jesus Christ as Lord, are Christians.
And Jesus is here saying, not all Christians are going to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Well then who will?
But only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
And so we see this.
We see that it is not enough to believe, to have faith,
and recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God, our Lord and Savior,
but we must do the will of his Father who is in heaven
if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven.
So what is the will of the Father?
Well, we know the will of the Father is to observe the Ten Commandments,
to observe the precepts of the Church.
Remember, our Lord said,
He who hears you, hears me.
And the Church has the power of binding and loosing
because she possesses the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
So we must observe the precepts of the Church to enter the kingdom of heaven.
And we must fulfill the duties according to our state of life.
This, too, is the will of God.
It is the will of the Father, objectively known for each and every one of us.
Our Lord then goes on to teach us,
Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
In this saying, this house that we are building is our soul.
We are building up our soul.
And so those who hear the words of the Lord
and act on them, put them into practice,
build up his soul on solid rock.
The words of the Lord are like a rock because they are true.
They are objective truth that never changes.
Immovable truth.
And so then our Lord says,
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted that house.
That is, various opinions, philosophies, theories, and objections to that truth
will come your way.
But if you have built your house, that is, lived the truth,
you have put these words into practice,
then you will stand firm.
But that house did not collapse in the face of all these values,
varying opinions,
because it had been set solidly on rock.
You see, by living the truth,
we become filled with the truth.
And it is set solidly on a rock and does not collapse
in the face of all of these varying opinions.
Then our Lord says,
And everyone who listens to these words of mine,
but does not act on them,
does not put them into practice,
but treats them,
as simply one other opinion among many,
will be like a fool.
The relativist is a fool
who built his house on sand.
The relativist who denies that there even exists objective truth.
Or, if he doesn't deny that it exists,
perhaps he denies our ability to know it,
and so he succumbs to every novelty and every passing fad.
So he is like a fool.
So when the rain fell and the floods came
and the winds blew and buffeted that house,
his soul,
it collapsed and was completely ruined.
It is, he was lost.
And so, let us certainly,
first and foremost,
recognize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
and the Savior of the world and our Lord.
Let us hear his words,
listen to his words,
and put them into practice.
Let us do the Father's will.
And in doing all of this,
we will be sure to enter the kingdom of heaven.
We will stand firm in the time of trial
and enter the kingdom of heaven.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
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Thanks for watching!