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Gospel Reflection 20070826

Believing in God doesn't equip you with all the answers.
Sometimes having true faith means giving up the control and trusting in God no matter what, trusting that the answers will come in time.
Whatever problems one faces, it's normal to look for rational answers. We want to know why! But even when answers aren't found right away, we can discover our true sense of faith and help others find theirs.
Developing and maintaining faith and trust in God are lifelong tasks.

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Strive to Enter the Narrow Gate
August 26, 2007



Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time


Gospel
Lk 13:22-30

Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.”




Salvation is not a privilege of a race or a chosen people, but a matter of how we respond in freedom to grace and the invitation of the Lord to a certain way of life.


Strive to Enter the Narrow Gate to Eternal Life

Very many opportunities are available to us during our lives. From this large assortment, we must decide which ones we want, which ones suit our personalities, and then strive to get them. The ones that we choose are not just going to fall into our laps—we have to go get them. If we pursue them half-heartedly, we are apt to miss them. One could say that the gate that we have to go through to attain what we want is a narrow one since there are much larger and easier gates that we could just fall through without even trying. These larger gates can distract us from the narrow gate we would like to go through.

Let me give you some examples of common choices we must make.
· While in school and college, we must decide what kind of vocation we would like to enter after we graduate. To prepare ourselves, we must strive to get good grades if we want to succeed in that vocation. The gate we are preparing to go through is a narrow one.
· When we find a job we like, it is important to strive to do it well so as to maintain our employment. To do the job half-heatedly means that we may soon be looking for another one. The gate to keeping a good job is also a narrow one.
· During our recreational time, many of us participate in competitive sports. We soon find out that if we want to win, we must strive diligently to pass through a narrow gate of being a winner. The alternative gate is much wider if our goal is to participate just for the fun of it.
The difficulty of striving to get what we want goes beyond the secular part of our lives and also applies to the spiritual part. In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his questioners that to be saved requires that they “strive to enter through the narrow gate.”

Jesus has freely offered salvation to everyone. But, will we choose salvation from the many opportunities available? Or will we slide through one of the larger gates in life that is much easier and perhaps more fun to do in the short term? We must strive to accept Jesus’ offer of salvation.

Salvation is a pure gift offered to us by Jesus. There is nothing we do can earn this gift, it is free from God. But a gift is not a gift until it is accepted. As human beings, we have free will and can choose either to accept his gift or to reject it. We can wait too long to accept the gift, or we can become so calloused with the other pleasures of earth that we no longer know that the gift is being offered.

A friend of mine may be slipping through a wide gate while losing sight of the narrow gate. A few years ago, he enthusiastically joined the Church. But slowly he began to drift away as his quantity of money allowed him to participate in whatever he wants. Presently, he thinks that he has complete control of his life and that he no longer needs God or his Christian community. He seems to be losing his desire to strive for the narrow gate of salvation. Jesus tells us that timing is very important when striving for the narrow gate. He says that when people knock on the door after it is closed, he will say, “I do not know where you are from.”

Since God is in charge of final judgment, why do we try to decide who will be saved? We, as disciples of Jesus, must not be judgmental about who we think will go through the narrow gate; our vision of God must be not myopic or parochial. We must see with a wide-angle lens that God’s salvation is open to all. God’s salvation is unbounded and it reaches out to those whom we may not only distrust but also sometimes even despise.

We must be careful not to think that only those with our point of view are faithful and deserving of salvation. We must not think that only those will be saved who belong to the right religious groups, who believe correct religious doctrines, and who follow an approved way of life.

There is something dangerous about being smugly convinced of our own salvation because we have followed the rules. When we are so sure of ourselves, we can easily fall into the error of being as sure of the moral failures of others as well.

Jesus’ invitation to salvation is open to all of us. It is his will to save us. The good news is that it is never too late. What is our response? Is each of us striving to go through the narrow gate?



After rudeness, my biggest pet peeve is snobbery. It irks me no end to see someone look down on someone else, regardless of the reason. I realize, however, that sometimes snobbery is not completely our fault. It seems like, from the day we are born, advertisers are trying to get us to want their products. And, if we do buy their products, we are, obviously, a person of great discernment-one of the elite.
It feeds our egos, doesn't it, to know that we have reached a certain level of exclusivity-to know that we are just a "little better" than other, less discerning people.
What is particularly galling to me is snobbery in the area of religion. Unfortunately, there are too many people in Christian denominations who think that they have the exclusive domain of truth-that God has chosen them and them alone, for His exclusive little family. These people are like advertisers for specialty products except that they are specialty advertisers for the soul-join our religion and you are guaranteed to go to heaven when you die.
One problem with this type of thinking is that it is always claimed by those who see themselves on the inside of this tiny circle of grace. Another problem is that this type of thinking usually leads to judgmental and arrogant and snobbish attitudes toward people outside of their circle. Another problem with this type of thinking is that Jesus never taught it. In fact, He had some very harsh words for the people who did teach it-white sepulchers immediately come to mind.
So, the question is, is this the way God thinks? Did God bring salvation to only a select few-only to an elite inner group? Or, did he give his grace to everyone? The scripture today tells us that God's grace will be available to everyone, not just the elite few.
When Jesus said this, he shocked all of his listeners. They were Jews and assumed they would be the only ones in heaven. Even if a few non-Jews entered heaven, they (the Jews) would have the best places. And, Jesus warned them that, if they thought like that, they themselves would have no places at all in heaven. Because of their arrogance and snobbishness, non-Jews would take their places and they, the chosen people, would be on the outside, looking in.
The lesson for us Christians is plain. The possession of a baptismal certificate and regular Church attendance does not guarantee our salvation. We must go through, like Jesus said, the narrow door. So, what exactly is the narrow door? The narrow door is every moral decision that we make. Do we choose for God or do we choose against God? It is like a fork in the road. The correct road-the narrow road-takes us to heaven. The wrong road-the wide road, the easy road-leads us to Satan. Each choice that we make, makes it easier to make the next one, whether it is the correct one or not-like a slippery slope.
To go through the narrow door will cost us. For many, it will cost a lot-our job, our family, our security, maybe even our life. When we do make the "leap of faith" and follow Christ through the narrow door, we may find ourselves in an ocean of troubles, with very little peace of mind. We may wonder, "Is it really worthwhile to follow Jesus"?
If you are one of these people, then the reading Heb 12:5-7, 11-13 is for you. It tells us that the trials and tribulations of life are not signs of the absence of God but that they are signs of his presence. It tells us that God is allowing challenges to come into our lives so that we can grow closer to him.
The idea that God is a supernatural protector who guards his own people from suffering is not a Christian idea but a pagan one. God is never at our disposal. We are at His disposal.
Our faith does not give us exact answers to our nagging questions about why we must undergo suffering. Our faith, however, gives us the strength to endure our trials and tribulations.
The narrow door, besides being the making of correct moral decisions, is the patient endurance of all of the difficult things that confront us in our lives. Jesus will be there with us all of the way. He invites us to walk the same road the he walked. He invites us to make our own way to Jerusalem, there to pass through the narrow door to Calvary. But, we must remember, beyond Calvary is the resurrection and the joy of eternal life with God.
Make the correct choice. If you do, you will not be disappointed (or worse) when you meet Jesus face to face. Guaranteed!!



Mmmmm! Mmmmm! Summer time means home grown fruits and vegetables. Is there anything tastier than the first homegrown tomatoes, peaches, or corn on the cob? And now the first of the apples and grapes are coming in. Ahhhhh... the first fruits of Summer are always the best!
This image of the first fruits of the harvest is a theme in today's Gospel. Appropriately during the harvest season, the church has us reflecting on God's harvest of souls and what it takes to be among the first fruits offered to God.
But how do we make sure we are counted among God's harvest? Through baptism we are already claimed by God as sons and daughters. The death and resurrection of Jesus makes us co-heirs with him to the glory of everlasting life in heaven. Heb 12:5-7, 11-13 reminds us however, that the Lord disciplines his children. Like any loving parent, God disciplines, corrects, and tries to show us the narrow gate to enter.
We, like most children, don't like the discipline at first. We may try to test God's limits. We may think we can do whatever we want and not be discovered. We may even fool ourselves into believing that God will not discipline us or punish us in the end. As the letter to the Hebrew so aptly states, " At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet it later brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it." God disciplines us because he loves us and He wants us to stay on the narrow path which leads to being a part of his harvest in heaven.
If we return to our image of the first fruits, we know that before we can enjoy the produce, much hard work is required. There is not only the planting and the watering, but also the weeding, the pruning, the removal of what is rotten from what is good and worthy of consumption. Similarly, there is work and labor required on our part after the seeds of faith are sown at baptism. We must cultivate our faith; allow the Lord to "prune" back our pride, selfishness, and ego. We must allow the Lord to help us "weed" out the sin in our lives so that we are producing good, abundant fruit.
We know from the gospel stories that Jesus disciplined His disciples. He rebuked James when he wanted to call down thunder and lightening upon the Samaritan town that would not welcome Jesus. He chastised Peter for judging as man judges and not by how God judges. Jesus corrects the disciples for vying for a place of honor when He comes into his kingdom. The disciples had to be pruned, weeded, cut back, and conformed into the pupils Jesus was calling them to be. The word "disciple" and "discipline" come from the same root word "discipulus" which means a pupil who is instructed or trained. We should expect that If we are disciples of Jesus, he will train us, correct us, discipline us so that we look more and more like him.
This is what lies at the heart of today's gospel passage from Luke 13. The Lord calls all people of every nation, north, south, east and west, to walk in his way. The way he has shown us is a narrow path with a narrow gate to enter. It requires that we die to our self, be stripped, and pruned in order to enter. Not all of those who cry, "Lord, open the door for us, "will be admitted. Those who accept the Lord's discipline and are trained in the way of the Lord will be recognized as disciples. They will be admitted into the great harvest of God's kingdom. They will be presented to the Father as "a pure offering in a clean vessel," (Is 66:21).

In what sense do I know Jesus? In what sense does He know me?
When asked, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”, Jesus makes it clear twice that He will not open the door of the Kingdom to those of whom He says, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me you evil-doers.” In other words, “I do not know you; we have no relationship; I do not acknowledge any intimacy with you.” What a terrible thing to hear from the mouth of the Savior, especially if you have had the privilege of knowing His Name! Elaborating the words of those shut out, Jesus could well be saying: “You say I ate and drank in your company; you say I taught in your streets. If I did, why did you not then listen to my teaching, treasure my presence, repent from your evil-doing and come freely through the door of my open Heart? I may have been at table with you and taught you, but you wanted me to come to you only on your terms, not on mine; you wanted me to think like you and be a member of your club; you wanted me to entertain you with clever words and witty parables, cure your sick, forgive your sins, raise your dead, but you had no intention of striving to let yourself be converted to me or to be healed by me. I came in love and truth to break your stubborn heads and hearts of stone, but instead you preferred evil, you pierced my heart with a lance, the lance of your self-sufficiency, and you crowned my head with thorns, the thorns of your fake religious attitudes. You treated my wisdom as dreaming, my company as social pleasantry, my love as naïve and superficial affection. I had sent you prophets and you stoned them; I send you apostles and you ridicule what they say in my name. How could I know you if you would not let yourself be known by being open to me? How can I now believe that you knock on this door for any other reason than again to throw me out and destroy my kingdom? Your tears and your wailing do not move me, for your hearts are filled with insincerity and hypocrisy.”
Because of sin, complacency and arrogance, many of the children of Abraham and the sons of the prophets failed to recognize Jesus when at last he came. In our times, notwithstanding millennia of history illumined and enriched by the same Jesus in His Church, many of our own who have inherited the patrimony of the apostles, have again fallen victim to exasperating hardness of heart. Listening has become selective and self-serving, legitimate questioning to bolster faith has been replaced with ideological antagonism, the call to religious obedience is cynically dismissed out of hand or rejected as downright invasive, doctrine is considered as obsolete opinion or is manipulated to rationalize partisan world-views, God has been declared as irrelevant for human coexistence, for science and even for freedom; religion has become an optional pastime, an insult to human intelligence, a refuge for the neurotic … and so the list could go on. For all this we blame materialism and spiritualism, our background, our foreground, our parents, our teachers, our public authorities … and that list can also go on. But when, perhaps not without a hint of self-righteousness, we have exhausted our blame-lists, shut the door and turned off the light, where does our hardness of heart come home to roost if not in our personal use and abuse of our own free will?
Jesus might well agree with our complaints, and sustain our hands as our fingers go limp from pointing out the guilty. But the question remains: what about me? Am I blameless? Is it conceivable that I might actually be responsible for myself?! Many of those we blame are quite possibly guilty, and may both know it and repent of it - though we may be unwilling to believe them. But their guilt does not explain away my responsibility. Responding to the Word and to the company of Jesus is something each human being must do from the core of who they are. Association with Jesus is not enough – look at Judas! Saying, “Lord, Lord” is not enough – look at Peter! Is it right to bemoan the distorted religious perspectives of the day when our own commitment to Christ and His Church is filtered through polarizing ideology of any kind, or relegated to empty routine, or reduced to lip-service and nice feelings? Where is the discipline proper to discipleship? Where is our courage to be strong in humility?
Heb 12:5-7, 11-13 helps us find the courage to reach for the narrow gate. The author to the Letter of the Hebrews extols the grace of discipline and the virtue of accepting it. If the Father disciplines you, by word or by suffering, do not lose heart, he says, “for whom the Lord loves, He disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” He acknowledges! He recognizes! That is to say, He knows, or to whom He says, “I know you and so I open the narrow gate, that is Christ my Beloved Son, to you.” God disciplines our freedom because He treats us as His children. He knows that discipline can be painful at the time, but later it makes us just and brings us peace. We are urged to make straight paths so that our lameness may not lead to disablement but to healing. Those straight paths are sketched out for us in the doctrine of Christ and His Church and in the sufferings of life, provided we seek humble and sincerely to recognize the hand of God behind or beyond them.
Knowing Jesus is, then, certainly a privilege, but it is also a responsibility; more is asked of the one to whom more is given, and being intimate with Jesus in the Body of His Church is the greatest gift we can have. Many who know Him not, still sense His presence and seek it; He sends us to them that they may find it. But they will not find Him in us if He does “not know” us, and He will only know us if, in the words of Mary, we do whatever He tells us. He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks; if we open up to Him, we will find –lo and behold!- that we have actually already entered through the narrow gate into the infinite knowledge and love of His Sacred Heart.

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St. Louis of France


(1226-1270)



At his coronation as king of France, Louis bound himself by oath to behave as God's anointed, as the father of his people and feudal lord of the King of Peace. Other kings had done the same, of course. Louis was different in that he actually interpreted his kingly duties in the light of faith. After the violence of two previous reigns, he brought peace and justice.
He was crowned king at 12, at his father's death. His mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled during his minority. When he was 19, (and his bride 12) he was married to Marguerite of Provence. It was a loving marriage, though was not without challenge. They had 10 children.

Louis "took the cross" for a Crusade when he was 30. His army took Damietta on the Nile but not long after, weakened by dysentery and without support, they were surrounded and captured. Louis obtained the release of the army by giving up the city of Damietta in addition to paying a ransom. He stayed in Syria four years.

He deserves credit for extending justice in civil administration. He drew up regulations for his officials which became the first of a series of reform laws. He replaced trial by battle with a form of examination of witnesses and encouraged the beginning of using written records in court.

Louis was always respectful of the papacy, but defended royal interests against the popes and refused to acknowledge Innocent IV's sentence against Emperor Frederick II.

Louis was devoted to his people, founding hospitals, visiting the sick and, like his patron St. Francis, caring even for people with leprosy. (He is one of the patrons of the Secular Franciscan Order.) Louis united France—lords and townsfolk, peasants and priests and knights—by the force of his personality and holiness. For many years the nation was at peace.

Every day Louis had 13 special guests from among the poor to eat with him, and a large number of poor were served meals near his palace. During Advent and Lent, all who presented themselves were given a meal, and Louis often served them in person. He kept lists of needy people, whom he regularly relieved, in every province of his dominion.

Disturbed by new Muslim advances in Syria, he led another crusade in 1267, at the age of 41. His crusade was diverted to Tunis for his brother's sake. The army was decimated by disease within a month, and Louis himself died on foreign soil at the age of 44. He was canonized 27 years later.

Comment:

Louis was strong-willed, strong-minded. His word was trusted utterly, and his courage in action was remarkable. What is most remarkable was his sense of respect for anyone with whom he dealt, especially the "humble folk of the Lord." To care for his people he built cathedrals, churches, libraries, hospitals and orphanages. He dealt with princes honestly and equitably. He hoped to be treated the same way by the King of Kings, to whom he gave his life, his family and his country.

posted by Mike Young @ 8:11 PM