The Lord sees into our hearts and He knows what we have done and what we have failed to do. Still His mercy and love abounds and He will judge us fairly, often giving us opportunities to live and grow otherwise forfeited by our own actions for having sinned against Him. And we must resist the anxious voices of even those closest to us to take immediate action on matters which goes against trust and obedience to the Lord our God.
For unless we have complete faith and trust in our Lord and choose the narrow road which He sets before us; we might find ourselves still able to perform many wonderful things in His name simply because we are doing them for His children’s sake but we ourselves might not enter His Kingdom. Our hearts must be changed inwardly that we desire always to hear His Word and Will for us. For there will always be the temptation to conform to the standards of the World, which demands we do NOT waste precious time on things which we cannot see or touch! Like time for prayer, quiet time to contemplate scripture, adoration, sharing of the Word and so on. Whose Will be done then?
Lord I hear You call my name, I have come to do Your Will. Amen
First reading
Genesis 16:1-12,15-16 ·
Hagar bears Abram a son
Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no child, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘Listen, now! Since the Lord has kept me from having children, go to my slave-girl. Perhaps I shall get children through her.’ Abram agreed to what Sarai had said.
Thus after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years Sarai took Hagar her Egyptian slave-girl and gave her to Abram as his wife. He went to Hagar and she conceived. And once she knew she had conceived, her mistress counted for nothing in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘May this insult to me come home to you! It was I who put my slave-girl into your arms but now she knows that she has conceived, I count for nothing in her eyes. Let the Lord judge between me and you.’ ‘Very well,’ Abram said to Sarai ‘your slave-girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit.’ Sarai accordingly treated her so badly that she ran away from her.
The angel of the Lord met her near a spring in the wilderness, the spring that is on the road to Shur. He said, ‘Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ ‘I am running away from my mistress Sarai’ she replied. The angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’ The angel of the Lord said to her, ‘I will make your descendants too numerous to be counted.’ Then the angel of the Lord said to her:
‘Now you have conceived, and you will bear a son and you shall name him Ishmael,
for the Lord has heard your cries of distress.
A wild-ass of a man he will be,
against every man, and every man against him, setting himself to defy all his brothers.’
Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave to the son that Hagar bore the name Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Gospel
Matthew 7:21-29
The wise man built his house on a rock
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?” Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!
‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’
Jesus had now finished what he wanted to say, and his teaching made a deep impression on the people because he taught them with authority, and not like their own scribes.
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