THE NARROW DOOR

THE NARROW DOOR – 21^st Sunday Ordinary Time, Year C

            How many are to be saved? Can Catholics be saved? Can Church of Christ Christians be saved? What about Mormons, Hindus or pagans? Of course all can be saved. Christ has reconciled the world to Himself. But all don’t have to be saved. If we have to be saved, then we are not free. We are not forced to go to heaven. We don’t have to go to heaven, we can choose not to. People who end up in hell, outside of the presence of God, choose to be there. God respects human freedom. If He didn’t there wouldn’t be any sin in the world. The Lord would put a stop to it.

            Jesus didn’t answer the question: “Lord, are they few in number who are to be saved?” Instead He told us where we need to place our emphasis. Our major concern in life needs to be the narrow door of the kingdom of God. “Try to come in through the narrow door. Many I tell you, will try to enter and be unable.” Jesus seems to put a time limit on entrance into the kingdom. “When once the master of the house has risen to lock the door and you stand outside knocking and saying: ‘Sir, open for us’, He will say, I do not know where you came from.”

            We can’t endlessly put off trying to go through the narrow door. Those rejected would have heard the Lord and ate and drank in His company as they say. “I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Away from Me, you evildoers.” That would be the worst kind of rejection imaginable! To be rejected from the kingdom eternally results from the rejection of the salvation offered in Christ. And people can be found who do reject the grace of God, which is frightening. If they are called evildoers, that has to tell us that the way we live in this life affects how we will live in the kingdom, and if we will live in the kingdom.

            The narrow door Jesus is talking about opens up to eternal life. The wide door of evil opens up eventually to eternal death. To be without God for eternity is to suffer eternal death. Those who are striving to go through the narrow door are very careful about the commandments and teachings of faith. That means they can’t do certain things. They have to be more narrowly focused. They have to live a more limited life in order to concentrate on the narrow door of the kingdom.

            Anyone who wants to achieve something important and great, becomes narrowly focused. When someone has a specific goal in mind their life is narrow in a sense, but not at all dull or uninteresting, just focused. The follower of Jesus realizes he or she cannot follow all roads of life. All roads and ways of life do not lead to the kingdom of God. The follower of Jesus lives a much more exciting life than someone who doesn’t follow Jesus.

            Those who are striving to go through the narrow door of the kingdom of heaven give a lot of attention to Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life. They give attention to prayer, worship, and sharing of faith with others, and taking part in Christ’s mission. They turn away from the doors of temptation, sin, and evil. They reject teachings, contrary to the faith, which people invent to justify sin and evil doing. They want to come before the Lord “in clean vessels”, to use the prophet Isaiah’s words.

            Those striving, struggling, trying to go through the narrow door, listen when the Lord reproves them for something. They accept correction. They accept discipline that is needed to live a spiritual life aimed at the narrow door of the kingdom. They accept the discipline the Church imposes to help us live a life of discipleship. They take courage from the Hebrew letter. “Endure your trials as the discipline of God, who deals with you as sons.”

            Those striving, struggling, trying to enter the narrow door, direct their lives toward what will help them to be faithful to the Lord. That means they rule out many ways in their lives. They make themselves sensitive to the calls of the Spirit, trying to enter the kingdom, and do not wait until the end of their life to try to enter the narrow door. They know they could wait too long. They begin as early as possible in their life to follow Jesus who leads us through the narrow door into the kingdom of heaven. “Try to enter…”

Divine Mercy Reflection #603

“…the most perfect and holy soul is the one that does the will of the Father, but there are not many such…”