We From all the pictures we’ve seen over the past several weeks of the devastation from the earthquakes in China to the cyclones in Myanmar, and all the consequent pain, suffering, displacement and even death that these disasters have caused, we can well be convinced of the importance of having good structural foundations for our homes and places of work.

Just so is it equally important for us to have good spiritual foundations to keep our personal lives from falling apart when earthquakes and cyclones hit.

Now personally, those natural or weather-related events can take many forms.

Our fellow-Americans living in the mid-western and southern states along tornado-alley, they know a lot about the need for firm faith and emotional foundations as they have had to deal with such sudden and drastic displacement.

The people of New Orleans, they know a lot about the need for firm faith and emotional foundations as they are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina several years ago.

But other events can be just as shattering as natural earthquakes or cyclones.

Sudden, major, and maybe even terminal illness can shake a person’s stability quite a bit.

Unemployment, especially prolonged unemployment, can virtually destroy a person’s sense of purpose in life.  The collapse of a marriage or love relationship often leaves the people involved feeling terribly defeated. The death of a very close loved-one can leave a person feeling as empty in life as having one’s house and home blown apart or heaved off its location.

And it’s only those who have firm faith and emotional foundations who can survive and re-build.

Now, as we all know, foundations of any kind, be they structural or personal, are not put in place in an instant.  No. They take careful time and attention to do those jobs correctly.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says: “Everyone who listens to my words and puts them into action, will be like the wise person who builds a house with a rock-solid foundation.”

And we lay that foundation for living, and we keep shoring it up, by doing what Deuteronomy says in the first reading today, and that’s keeping the 10 Commandments. We make as sure as we can that:

We don’t have any addictions that become false gods in our lives, We don’t use the Lord’s name in bad language, We go to Church every weekend, We honor, and if we are under 18, we also obey our parents, We don’t kill others or do anything to endanger their lives or our own, We don’t let ourselves become impure, We don’t steal or cheat, We’re not envious or jealous of the relationships, or property others may have.

Then for the mortar that holds all these foundation stones together, we practice what Jesus taught us about

Loving and caring, Understanding and tolerance, Forbearance and forgiveness, Justice and fairness, Temperance and fortitude, Divine Providence and faith and trust in it.

Then we smooth it all over, just like a masonry worker does with bricks or blocks, with the words of Isaiah, ch. 49, where God says: “See, I have carved you in the palms of my hands.”

It’s then that we can be assured that we have a firm foundation in faith, and call out with confidence the words of our responsorial psalm’s refrain: “Lord, be my rock of safety.”

      Thank you.