Practice what we Preach

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

To be genuine in our prayer we must be sincere and open with God. We can tell God what ever we want, but he can see right trough us. In order to do His will, we must do more then preach, we must practice. You have probably heard it said many a time that we need to practice what we preach. In today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 7:21-29), Jesus tells us, "Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” If all we do is talk the talk but we forget to walk the walk, Jesus tells us that the gates of heaven will not be open for us. We must not only preach our faith, we must act upon our faith. We must be missionaries of the Word of God everyday. We must go out into the world and preach the Word to all who see us. St. Francis tells us that we must preach the gospel daily and if necessary use words. We will be judged on our actions and not our words.

When you walk amongst your friends and family, what do they see - a child of Christ or someone who only talks about being a child of Christ. Jesus tells us we must build our faith on a solid foundation to weather the spiritual storms. He says it’s like building a house on a rock, when the storms come, the house will be solid. But a house built upon a weak foundation will wash away. As children of Christ, evil attacks us everyday. The devil rocks the foundation of our faith trying to separate us from beliefs. We must be prepared to withstand the forces of evil. If our faith is weak, we will crumble to his will. Today’s gospel goes on to give us reassurance that if we try to put our faith in action, we will build the solid foundation that we need. God knows that we will stumble, that we might loose a shingle or break a window, but our house will remain intact.

A Simple Prayer Lord God, you are my foundation, you are my steel girders and the beams which support my roof. Inside my house, I shall store your love and your grace. May I put into practice what the church preaches; and protect me from the evil that tries to erode my foundation.

Yours in Christ Michael Marcon