Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Matthew 7: 21, 24-27
December 4, 2025 | Thursday

Today’s Gospel

Jesus said to his disciples, Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father.

“Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine, and acts according to them, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house. But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!”

Today’s Reflection

In the Gospel passage, Jesus emphasizes that those who do the will of the Heavenly Father will not only enter the Kingdom of Heaven but also withstand the storms of life. But how do we know the will of the Father, and in what sense does doing it make us overcome life’s trials and difficulties?

We may know the will of the Father by meditating and praying on his words in the scriptures. In most cases in the scriptures, doing the will of the Lord entails stepping out of one’s comfort zone and doing something that one would instead not do. For instance, Abraham was called to leave his homeland and venture into unfamiliar terrains in his old age. Jonah was sent to preach repentance to Israel’s enemies in Nineveh. And Jesus himself was called to bring about liberation to his people—a call that made him undergo a painful death on the cross. Jesus agonizes at the prospect of getting eventually crucified that night in Gethsemane. He prays that the Father should spare him from being crucified, which was the most shameful and painful means of capital punishment, but that not his but the Father’s will be done (Mt 26:39).

Biblical characters who did God’s will by leaving their comfort zones and bearing the challenges that came with them have survived triumphantly. We, too, should follow their examples to weather the storms in life. After all, stepping out of our comfort zones strengthens our characters and makes us more resilient. It makes us more dependent on our Lord, who would like us to take his words to heart by doing his will—which may make us uncomfortable but brings profound and lasting joy.

/Vulnerasti, 2025