Today’s reading from an evangelist (Mt 7:21-29) continues to give us Jesus talking to His disciples during the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus’ focus is on who will inherit the Kingdom of God.  Those who listen to and act on His words build their houses on a solid foundation but those who do not, build on sand and their houses ultimately collapse.

Near the beginning of this passage Jesus says, “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.”  So much for “once saved, always saved” (our actions matter!).  And, also, so much for “cafeteria Christianity.”  The Word cannot be parsed.  As St. John of the Cross said, “In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), [God the Father] spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word – and he has no more to say.” (CCC 65; also see CCC 102)

This is why it is so ignorant (at best) to attempt to justify one’s wrong actions by taking God’s Word out of context, twisting it toward one’s own ends, or adhering to one part of it while disregarding other parts.  Let us neither be fools nor listen to fools who would lead ourselves or others astray in this way.  Rather let us be mindful of the one Word and the important concept of the content and unity of Scripture: “Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God’s plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart.” (CCC 112)

May we always adhere to the Word, who is God (see Jn 1:1), who is “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6).