The House on the Rock

“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.”

I think there could be another interpretation to the above passage from today’s Gospel. In the Gospel, our Lord is referring to the Christian way of life and the need to take in deeply the Word of God.

Whenever I hear this Gospel, I think of the House on the Rock in Southwestern Wisconsin. It’s a fabulous construction designed by famous architect (and narcissist) Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s so extravagant, so impractical, that it’s now a museum rather than a home. People tour it to see its magnificence, but no one would ever want to live there. He built it for the wrong reason. It should be called the House on the Ground Without a Foundation instead.

This makes me wonder what happens when we build our own House on the Rock. What happens when we put together a structure – a project, an apostolate, a relationship – using the right materials (the Gospel) but for with the wrong reason (foundation)?