Lord, Lord...

I have always been struck by that phrase in today's gospel reading: "‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’" Prophesying, casting out demons, and mighty works are some pretty powerful things, but Jesus says they are not the full picture. Depending on what is going on in the world (or sometimes my own life) I will often apply other actions to help me keep myself accountable before God. For example, one time I worded it as, "did we not refuse to see that movie?", and another time I said to myself, "did we not teach our children the catechism?"

Whatever the "did we not" happens to be in our hearts, we must be aware that those things are what we attach our hope and confidence to when we approach the Lord. Whatever behavior fills us with a pride before the Lord will take us away from true faithfulness. That is what Jesus is warning every one of us to be aware of. He wants us to know that there are many things that may be good in themselves, but those should never be the grounds of our hope.

Think about these examples: "did we not serve as communion ministers for 5 years?", "did we not help with CCD classes?", "did we not have the most contemporary pop tunes in the Mass?", "did we not gain seven indulgences on the feast of the Sacred Heart?" I have seen many times Catholics say that they were confident they were in right standing with God for numerous things like you see in this list. What do you place your confidence in for your salvation?