The readings for Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082122.cfm
We think about lots of questions in our lives, don’t we?
What should I do with my life?
Will I have enough money to live?
Will my family be ok?
Have I saved enough for retirement? The answer is probably no to that one, by the way.
But, one of the most important questions any of us can think about is “Will I go to heaven?”
It’s not a comfortable or easy question for any of us to ask, but we need to think about it.
Our eternal life is literally forever and this life we are in right now, the one we ask all these other questions about, by comparison, lasts for about a second.
In today’s Gospel from Saint Luke, we hear someone ask Jesus - “Will only a few people be saved?”
And Jesus gives us an interesting answer -
“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many will try to enter but will not be able.”
That’s a bit scary if you think about it.
I think most of us believe we'll go to heaven because God is love and he wants us to be with Him.
Hell is something they taught us growing up to scare us into staying in line.
I’ll go to heaven because I believe in God. I’m a good person. I don’t go out of my way to hurt anyone.
I’ll go to heaven because all the good I do far outweighs the bad.
I’ve never murdered anyone so….
I’ll go to heaven because my family is Catholic and I never miss Mass - well mostly I never miss it.
That door might be narrow, but I’m good - God loves me and is merciful - He’ll let me in.
But Jesus tells us we need to strive to enter through the narrow door because salvation is not guaranteed.
Not everyone gets in.
The Oxford dictionary defines “strive” as to make great efforts to achieve or obtain something, to struggle or to fight vigorously.
Great efforts. Struggle. Vigorous fighting.
Can we pass the red face test if someone asks if we are doing those things to get into heaven?
I can tell you that doesn’t describe me on most days.
Now, Jesus is incredibly patient, leaving the door open for us, but one day He promises He will close it.
And it’s up to us and God’s grace whether we will be on the right side of that door when it closes.
In this life, it’s been said that it doesn’t matter what you know, it matters who you know.
The way to get in through that narrow door is all about who we know - it’s all about our relationship with Jesus.
Whether we know him and whether he knows us.
Knowing Jesus means praying to Him, and not just when we want something.
It means knowing and listening to His Word.
It means we must go to confession.
This is part of that striving - that strenuous part.
It’s not easy, but we have to do it.
Open your heart to Christ. Confess your sins. Receive His grace and mercy. Receive His love.
Especially if we want to be properly disposed to receive Holy Communion we have to go to confession - otherwise we sin again, our sins compound and the more baggage we carry.
If that door is so narrow, no way we get through it carrying baggage with us.
In a few minutes, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, remember we are doing more than memorializing something that Jesus did two thousand years ago.
Remember that He is still living and breathing and that we can be in relationship with Him today.
Don’t just go through the motions.
Open your heart to Him, pray to Him, talk to Him. Express your love for Him.
The Word of God is meant to inspire us.
The incredible grace of a good confession is meant to make us more humble and merciful.
The grace of the Eucharist is meant to nourish and sustain us.
Being baptized, being a good person, going to mass is not enough.
If we want to pass through that narrow door we need to have a relationship with Christ and strive to conform ourselves to Him every day of our lives.
That door is narrow, but it’s open.
The real question we should be asking ourselves is “How badly do we want to get through it?”
