This Sunday, the Church puts before us, John the Baptist. He is “A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
As we go through Advent it’s good to reflect if we are on a winding road that is sandy and dangerous, and cause us to lose our balance when passing through and fall into the mud. But, we should follow the straight the path laid out by Jesus. His pathway is narrow and straight and built on rock. The pathway Jesus took to Calvary was actually through the city of Jerusalem and had bricks and stones for easy walking and transporting items. It was a narrow path, a bloody path, but a path of sacrifice and love and it was solid.
In another Gospel, Our Blessed Lord gave the parable of the two houses. One house is built on rock and the other is built on sand. One house the builder wanted to save money on the material for the exterior and not the interior foundation. Jesus calls such a builder, a fool.
Even though the two houses looked identical, they had very different foundations. One was firmly bedded on rock, but not the other.
Time past, and one day, there arose problems that would put their construction to the test. A storm arose, rain poured down, floodwater began to rise and hurricane winds hurled themselves against the buildings. One house remained firm and unshaken, while the other house collapsed with a roar in total ruin.
Jesus tells this parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount because He wants His listeners, and us, to understand that His teachings are like that rock. You can always count on them because they come from Him, who is the way, the truth and the life. His word endured for two thousand years and will, in fact, endure forever.
That’s why the house set solidly on rock can survive any storm. If you are that house, you can survive the storms that come with life in a fallen world: an illness, unemployment, the loss of a loved one.
You can also weather the storms that come in the guise of different philosophies and world views and heresies that come up in the Church. Every generation has them.
On the surface many of these philosophies can seem attractive, especially since they are less demanding. Protestantism says your not obligated to attend Mass on Sunday, you don’t need to Confess your sins to a priest, if you pray to Mary, you are worshiping Her, you don’t need to pray for the dead, nor fast or practice virtue. You are free to do whatever you want.
The world tells us to be woke: to accept biological men playing in women’s sports; if you aren’t politically correct, you’re racist; if you are traditional, you’re not being diverse or inclusive or modern. The woke crowd is at odds with reason and human nature. If you’re against transgenders using your biological restroom, you are not being inclusive.
Those who attempt to change their gender are really suffering from a mental health issue, often times caused by difficulties in their home. Catholic mental health professionals who will give them the Catholic perspective can help them during their identity crisis.
Modernists believe there are no objective truths, morals change depending upon your feelings and keeping up with the times. A modernist would say, homosexuality in the past intrinsically disordered, but today, times have changed, and we need accept other lifestyles as good. A modernist would say women deacons and priests were forbidden due to the oppressive structure of the Church, but if we change the Church, they are now acceptable. Modernists would say it used to be wrong for couples to cohabit, but today it’s good to try out their marriage before exchanging their vows. Modernists would say everyone is welcome to the table of the Lord and can receive Communion including non-Catholics and couples not married in the Church regardless of the state of their soul. Modernists would say Jesus didn’t work real miracles, but the stories were figurative. Modernist will say all religions are pathways to God, but they are not.
If your against modernism, then you believe there are objective truths and morals that never change over time. As faithful Christians, you believe the miracles Jesus performed were real miracles and the Church cannot change her structure because it was established that way by Christ. You believe there is only one way to God. The only straight pathway to the Father is Jesus, who said, “I am way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through Me”. All religions are not the same and only one, the Catholic religion was founded by Christ.
You won’t be swayed by the changing times, because you are firmly grounded in Jesus, the living stone, that will never move despite the storms, rain and wind battering the house. You believe 2000 years of the teachings of Jesus have never changed and will never change because they are divinely revealed by God.
By the regularly praying the Rosary and meditating on the life and events of Jesus and Mary, we remain faithful to revelations given to us by God, and so, we are standing on rock, and no matter the storms of modernism, secularism, Protestantism, or any turmoil in the Church, we will be safe.
If you know of others, who don’t have their foundation on rock, but are on constant shifting sand, that changes with the time, introduce them to the Rosary. Tell them how through the Rosary, Jesus and His teachings have helped you weather the storms in your life.
If in the past, you were rescued from the house built on sand and are now placed on the rock of faith convince them to daily pray the Rosary as a family. If you live by yourself, call a friend or family member and pray the Rosary with them over the phone.
When we pray the Rosary, the Blessed Virgin Mary prays for us, now and at the hour of death. Her prayers are powerful and She can help us because She is the Mother of the Savior. When we pray the Rosary, and turn to Our Lady in all our needs She will help us to remain firm in our faith and keep us close to Jesus, so that when problems in our life come up, we will be like the house built on solid rock and a straight path. Though we may get battered, we will continue to pray and stay close to Jesus.
The daily family Rosary, the Holy Mass, reading Sacred Scripture, regular fasting, and monthly Confession, being faithful to teachings of Jesus through Scripture and Tradition keeps on a solid rock and a straight path and makes our faith in Jesus Christ stay strong. Will you make this Advent a time where you will do these things, not just during Advent, but all the time?
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