Gospel (Mt 7,21.24-27) - At that time, Jesus said: «Not everyone who says to me: 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Therefore whoever hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers overflowed, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, because it was founded on the rock. Whoever hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers overflowed, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and its ruin was great."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

These words close the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' first great discourse in the Gospel of Matthew. At the beginning we encounter a strong word: only he who "does the will of the Father" will be worthy of the kingdom and not he who has only invoked the name of the Lord. John Chrysostom, stigmatizing the passivity with which the Christians of his time participated in the Sunday liturgy, because they did not derive any change from it in their daily lives, said: «Do you perhaps believe that spiritual fervor consists in the simple fact of continually coming to the celebration of the Divine liturgy? This means nothing if we don't get some fruit from it: if we don't get anything, it's better to stay at home! And what it means to fulfill the will of the Father is clarified several times by the Gospel, as when Jesus states: «And this is the will of him who sent me: that I lose nothing of what he has given me, but that he raises it up. on the last day" (Jn 6:39). The will of the Father is the salvation of all. Jesus came for this and we are called to fulfill, with him, this dream clearly shown in the Gospel. The words of Jesus are very clear: «Whoever listens to these words of mine and puts them into practice will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock», while «whoever listens to these words of mine and does not put them into practice, he will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." The example continues: the rain came, the rivers overflowed, the winds blew and hit those two houses; they are the storms of life that we all experience. Well, the first house, founded on stone, remained firm; the other, founded on sand, collapsed. They are two effective images: Jesus compares those who listen to the Gospel and put it into practice to builders. We do not listen to the Gospel for a literary exercise or even for some good feeling. It is a word given to us to build life on a solid and stable foundation. For this reason Jesus invites us to listen to it and above all to put it into practice.