Whence the Lord also says in the Gospel: “He who hears these My words and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon a rock. There came torrents of rain and rushing winds, and they struck upon that house, but it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” As a consequence, our Lord daily looks for it that we should respond by deeds to these His holy warnings. Thus, it is on account of the need of correcting faults that the days of this life are prolonged for us, as by way of truce; and the Apostle says: “Art thou ignorant that the patience of God leads thee towards penitence?” For the Lord in His tenderness says: “I will not the death of a sinner, but that he may be converted and live.”
Since therefore, brethren, we asked of the Lord concerning the dweller in His tabernacle, we have heard, as a precept concerning dwelling there, “if we fulfil what is required of a dweller there.” Therefore, must our hearts and bodies be prepared as about to serve like soldiers under holy obedience to these precepts; and whatsoever our nature does not make possible let us ask the Lord to direct that the help of His grace shall supply. And if we wish to escape the pains of hell and attain to eternal life, we must hasten to do such things only as may profit us for eternity, now, while there is time for this and we are in this body and there is time to fulfil all these precepts by means of this light.
Reflection:
We are currently on shaky ground, what of the extant culture we are all immersed in having lost its Christian inclinations! Everything is all about ideology and gray areas–modernistic ideas–which the good Pope Pius X had warned about: “the synthesis of all heresies”, a corruption of thought and the intellect, in favour of relativism that has permeated society at large. Indeed, the Church is supposed to stand against this dilemma, yet it seems that many from the hierarchy, too, have been infected by the virus of modernistic thought. Yet, as what Our Lord has constantly assured us, He shall never abandon what He has established.
Holy Mother Church sits on solid ground as it is the pillar and ground of the Truth. Hence, despite all her flaws, we are assured that no tempests shall overturn it as it is anchored on Christ Himself. We run to her and her wisdom, and she corrects us through her treasure trove of saintly writings and promulgations of all our holy popes. However, even she as institution can house people whose hearts and minds are ailing tremendously from sin’s beguilements, or deceived by the workings of unwarranted curiosities; and it is of this cause that she encourages us to come back to the Lord that, ultimately all of our souls shall find rest in Him. She calls, like Wisdom in the book of Proverbs, across the mountaintops, that everyone whose hearts have been blackened by the soot of sin be reconciled to Him who constantly calls for His children to listen to, ponder upon, and act on righteousness—for we are all called, not to damnation but to the light. Thus, let us ask for God’s grace to let us continue in faithfulness and, in turn, shun evil. Let us hasten to do good and not slack from hearing His call.