In today’s Gospel Jesus said to his disciples: “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.”
My brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a contrast given to us today between the person who takes the word of God into his heart and soul and acts on it and the person who simply speaks the word of God but does not live it.
Those who take the word of God into their heart and soul and walk in the way of the Lord, they will receive God’s blessings and will inherit His Heavenly Kingdom. Those who only speak the word of God but do not live it; will not inherit God’s Kingdom. God’s warning is as clear as black and white, there are no grey areas.
Today’s First Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy reminds us that today is the day to make a final decision.
I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known.
Today, we must decide if we will walk with God according to His Commandments or against God, contrary to His Commandments. This means that we must be living models of the Christian faith, practicing what we learn from Jesus’ preaching in the Gospel. In Christ, there is one life, one way and one truth.
The Letter to the Romans, from which comes our second reading, puts its focus on faith: we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. We could ask a question very similar to one that Jesus poses elsewhere: who has faith? The one who does the works of faith or the one who only speaks about it?
The Gospel of Matthew today is about belief and faith. Jesus said, “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. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’” The Gospel tells us that doing great work is not enough. Even doing great work in the name of the Lord is not enough. We must believe from our hearts and souls.
So today we are invited to become followers of Christ in a totally committed way, both believing and doing. Doing, by itself, is not good enough. Believing without acting on the belief is not belief. Let us believe as well as practice faith by our actions and deeds in our every day life!