Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
                                                           August 25, 2013 Cycle C
                                                                                          by Rev. Jose Maria Cortes, F.S.C.B.

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In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” How can we enter through the narrow gate?

In today’s Gospel, someone asks Jesus if only a few people are going to heaven. It is a question asked out of mere curiosity. Jesus did not come to this world to respond to our curiosity. He says in a clear way that salvation is a personal matter. With this answer, he is saying do not waste time thinking about the statistics of salvation but take care of your own salvation. What is salvation? It has to do with our personal relationship with God. The first task in our lives is to save our souls.

Jesus says in a clear way that salvation is not something automatic. He uses the image of the narrow gate. He clearly states that there is a decision that we each have to make: we can save or condemn ourselves. With the image of the narrow gate, Jesus is calling us to assume responsibility.

The first reading talks about universal salvation. It says that God comes “to gather nations of every language.” Is there a contradiction with what is Jesus saying in the Gospel? Jesus says: “For many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” God wants to save us. However, he requires our collaboration. Because he loves us, he respects us. He created us with free will.

It is possible to enter through the narrow gate if we have intimacy with God, if he knows us and we know him. The master of the house tells the ones who stay outside: “I do not know where you are from.” Life is not a game. Life has to be taken with all seriousness. Life is dramatic. It is the time to make our decision.

It is demanding to enter through the narrow gate. We need to be trained in order to do so. The second reading says that we need to be disciplined: “For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines […] God treats you as sons.” The author of the Letter to the Hebrews invites us to look at the trials that we have in life as God’s pedagogy. We need to grow up. It is painful but necessary. We need conversion. We are centered on ourselves and we need to be centered on God. Conversion is a long and painful path that we cannot avoid. However, it is a peaceful path: “At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

We are weak, we are superficial and distracted, and we are not strong enough to enter through the narrow gate. However, we can always beg for help. First of all, to enter through the narrow gate is a matter of being humble. It is not a matter of being perfect because no one is perfect.

We need to be like the good thief, Saint Dismas, who at the last minute obtains the grace to enter through the narrow gate: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Saint Dismas accepted his own cross, looked at Jesus and begged for the grace of entering Heaven.

How can we enter through the narrow gate?

Saint Dismas gives us the answer. We need three things: to accept our cross, to look at Jesus and to beg for our salvation.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.