Saturday, September 10, 2016

A Firm Foundation

I will show you what someone is like who comes to me,
listens to my words, and acts on them.
That one is like a man building a house,
who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock;
when the flood came, the river burst against that house
but could not shake it because it had been well built.  Luke 6


We are grounded in our love for Christ Jesus Our Lord; we stand on the rock of our belonging to him. Still he assures us that our reception of his message must be enfleshed, sacramentalized in what we do, in how we act with one another. Having been loved so completely by Jesus, we must go and do likewise. As Saint Paul will tell us in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, "The love of Christ impels us." We are constrained, compelled by that love, for as Paul will continue, "He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." Saint Ignatius Loyola will echo centuries later, “Love ought to show itself in deeds over and above words.” 

Photograph of the Abbey church by Brother Brian.