Reading 1
1 Cor 10:14-22
My beloved ones, avoid idolatry.
I am speaking as to sensible people;
judge for yourselves what I am saying.
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the Body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one Body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.
Look at Israel according to the flesh;
are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
So what am I saying?
That meat sacrificed to idols is anything?
Or that an idol is anything?
No, I mean that what they sacrifice,
they sacrifice to demons, not to God,
and I do not want you to become participants with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons.
You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.
Or are we provoking the Lord to jealous anger?
Are we stronger than him?
Gospel
Lk 6:43-49
Jesus said to his disciples:
"A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thornbushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I command?
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.
But the one who listens and does not act
is like a person who built a house on the ground
without a foundation.
When the river burst against it,
it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed."
Meditation: Luke 6:43-49
“That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock.” (Luke 6:48)
The planners of the World Trade Center in New York knew something about building on rock. When construction began in 1966, they took great pains to set the whole complex on a solid foundation. Workers dug down seventy feet to the bedrock to build a seven-story-high foundation wall of reinforced steel and concrete. Anchored on this base, the Twin Towers were about as firmly rooted as buildings can get.
But nine years ago today, those solid towers came down in a cataclysm of dust and debris. In just a few horrific hours, more than three thousand people met an unexpected, violent death—some in New York, others near Washington, D.C., and others in a Pennsylvania field. Today, we remember these victims—each one unique and irreplaceable, each one infinitely precious. We pray for their families and friends, who bear the wounds of this tremendous loss.
As we remember, the Holy Spirit gently invites us to consider a deeply challenging, often avoided reality: The world as we know it is passing away. None of it—no matter how solidly based—can sustain our lives forever.
This is the truth that Jesus addresses in today’s reading, using images from the construction trade he learned from Joseph. The house that collapses can stand for everything in life, and in us, that is built on earthly things: It will not endure.
But Jesus doesn’t leave us woefully contemplating the ruins. He came to open up the way to eternal life, and he tells us how to build for it: Come to me, listen to my words, and act on them (Luke 6:47).
This invitation comes at the very end of what is often called Jesus’ “sermon on the plain.” Reading this short sermon attentively would be an especially appropriate way to mark today’s sober anniversary.
Jesus assured us that “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Luke 21:33). If we build on him, we can be sure that our lives—fragile, frail, and fleeting as they are—will endure forever.
“Lord Jesus, to whom shall we go in our sorrows and our joys? You alone have the words of eternal life. Help us this day to hear, to believe, and to obey.”
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