LIVE IT TODAY: Thursday, December 4, 2025 | Advent Weekday | Memorial of Saint John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church
You are made to stand firm—unshaken—because My truth is your foundation.
LIVE IT TODAY: Thursday, December 4, 2025 | Advent Weekday | Memorial of Saint John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church
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GOD’S DECLARATION TO YOU TODAY
You are made to stand firm—unshaken—because My truth is your foundation.
INVOCATION
Come, Holy Spirit! Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, open my heart to hear and receive all that You desire for me. Draw me ever more deeply into the Love and Life of the Blessed Trinity!
GOSPEL | Matthew 7:21, 24–27
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
EVERY DAY QUESTION
What struck you? Challenged you? Inspired you? What questions did it raise?
GOING DEEPER
Faith Built on Rock, Not Rhetoric
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives what might be the most piercing warning in the Gospel: it is entirely possible to call Him “Lord” and still build a life destined to collapse. The issue is not knowledge or religious language. It is obedience—acting on His word. The wise and the foolish both hear Jesus. The difference lies in what they do next.
The word Jesus uses for “acted on them” is poieō, the same verb used for “bearing fruit.” It implies ongoing, lived action—not a single moment but a patterned life. Families often imagine storms as rare interruptions, but Jesus’ original listeners knew better. In the Judean landscape, dry riverbeds could turn into violent, sudden torrents. Flash floods came without warning. A house needed deep, tested foundations or it would be swept away.
Saint John Damascene, whose memorial we honor today, lived this truth. Surrounded by political upheaval, theological confusion, and threats to the Church’s unity, he anchored himself in the unchanging rock of divine truth. His clarity about the Incarnation, icons, and the nature of worship came not from cleverness but from obedience—a life built on what Christ taught rather than on passing ideas. He stood firm when others collapsed.
Jesus is inviting us to the same stability. In marriage, in parenting, in the daily life of the domestic church, storms will come—unexpected arguments, financial pressures, temptations, disappointments, and seasons of spiritual dryness. The question is not if we will face storms, but what we are building on when they arrive.
Here is the Gospel paradox:
The storms do not determine your future—your foundation does.
Hearing Jesus’ word without living it creates a spiritual illusion: everything seems fine…until it isn’t. But a family that listens and acts—choosing forgiveness instead of resentment, truth instead of convenience, prayer instead of self-reliance, faithfulness instead of fear—becomes a house that stands when wind and water rage.
Parents, build your home on rock by doing what Jesus says in the small, hidden moments. Pray over your spouse and children by name, asking the Holy Spirit to strengthen their foundation in Christ, silence the Enemy’s lies, deepen their obedience, and make your home a place that stands immovable in every storm.
“By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.” (CCC 143)
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS
FOUNDATION CHECK
Where is your life or your family most at risk of being built on “sand” rather than Christ?
FAITH IN ACTION
What is one concrete way you can act on the words of Jesus today?
A HOUSE THAT STANDS
What practice—daily, weekly, or relational—can strengthen your family’s foundation in Christ this Advent?
FAMILY LIVE IT
Make some time today to gather together and, going around, share one area of life where you want to strengthen your foundation in Jesus—an action, habit, or attitude that needs His stability.
Then take a moment to pray over each person by name, asking the Holy Spirit to reinforce their foundation, silence lies of fear and discouragement, strengthen obedience, and make each heart firm in Christ.
Daily Challenge: Choose one simple, concrete act of obedience to Jesus today—something that reinforces your life on the solid rock of His word.
DAILY PARENT & GRANDPARENT BLESSING
LORD JESUS CHRIST, let Your holy anointing be upon each of our children, grandchildren, and godchildren this day and week, including all to whom they are called in vocation, and all future generations! In Your Sacred Name we claim them for You! We renounce all whispers, lies, and influences of the Enemy! We pray right now that each know Your loving Presence, be forged in virtue, and be flooded with an abundance of Your Holy Spirit to live fully their identity and mission in You now and through all eternity, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother! Amen.
PARENT BLESSING PROJECT: bit.ly/ParentBlessing
GOING VERTICAL
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Just as the vertical beam upholds the horizontal beam of the Cross, so too does undistracted, dedicated daily turning to God as our lifeblood uphold and strengthen every part of life. Start with just three minutes. Wait patiently for the breakthrough beyond the noise. Let Him speak.
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