21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then in reply he will say to you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!' There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I know that the Son of God. You came to save us and open for us the gates of heaven, making it possible for us to hope that after this life it will be possible to enjoy everlasting life. I firmly believe that you are Truth itself, and I renew my trust in you, because you are faithful to your promises. Your gave your life for me, and I want my actions, more than my words, to show you that I am ready to do the same for others.
Petition: Lord, grant me a change of heart, so that instead of shying away from the narrow way and the difficult things in life, I will take advantage of them so as to empty myself of my egotism and be more open to serving you in others.
1. "Lord, will only a few be saved?" In other words, is it easy to be saved, so easy that anyone can do it, or is it going to take work? Is there a cap, or is it open to as many as want? This was an important question for the apostles. The majority of Jews still believed that salvation was a question of belonging to the Chosen Race and fulfilling the Law, We have Abraham for our father. The groups that were more observant of the Law, considered themselves just and despised those they considered sinners, as we see often in the gospel. However, this shortcoming is in no way exclusive to the people in Jesus’ time, it is a common trait of people everywhere to look for guarantees, to judge others and to seek securities in some practice or another, and to feel superior when they think they have guarantees. It happens to each one of us. We want to be sure, and we want to be secure, we want guarantees. The Catholic Church has always taught that God wants everyone to be saved (Dominus Iesus, 20). Every person's vocation is to holiness, which is none other than union with God (Gaudium et Spes, 32). God's desire to save man is expressed by Christ in his conversation with Nicodemus: Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3: 17). If it depended only on God, if man did not have to collaborate and change, if there were no enemy of our soul going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour, everyone would be saved, it would be easy.
2. "Strive to enter through the narrow door." Time and again, we see Jesus opt for the practical. Rather than engage in a theoretical discussion, he goes right to the practicalities and tells us what we have to do if we want to be saved. After all, that is the real question each one of us needs to have answered: it’s not a matter of how many will be saved but if I will be among them. God’s desire to save all men doesn't mean that everyone's salvation is automatic or guaranteed. Each one of us is wounded by original sin, we are inclined towards evil, as personal experience is ample proof. Not only that, but sin is easy, sin attracts us, we find it hard to say no to, that is why there is so much of it. As the Catechism reminds us, the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life. This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us. (CCC 1426) This struggle of conversion is the narrow door. We had no say in our creation, but our cooperation and effort is necessary for our salvation.
3. "Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." Christ here tells us that appearances can be misleading. Only God knows the soul of man and the secrets of his heart. What matters is not the impression that other people have of us, it matters not if we can say to Christ 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' We may have eaten his flesh in the banquet of the Eucharist, we may have sat attentively and learned the gospel and the catechism by heart but, did we allow those words to reach in and change our hearts? To call oneself a Christian without consistency of life is to fall short. And to think we are safe, saved, once we turn our life over to Christ, and to forget that this is but the first step of our Christian journey, is to close our ears to the very words of Christ. The Pharisee as he prayed thought he was the first and considered the publican last, the publican probably agreed, but God’s opinion was very different and “the publican went down to his house justified.” We must be cautious in our judgments, especially in our leniency toward ourselves. Humility is the only guarantee.
Conversation: Lord Jesus, I want to follow your way, to live on your terms, so as to be saved and enter into your Kingdom. May your grace find the fertile soil of generosity in my heart so that you may work all the more freely through me.
Questionnaire:
1. Does my eternal salvation concern me?
2. Can I say that in my daily life I choose the “narrow way”, or the “easy way”?
3. Do I have an inflated idea of myself and my progress?