Last week’s readings and St. Luke’s Gospel reminded us that we are called to bring God’s love and peace to all we meet. Our Baptism brings the fire of the Holy Spirit into our being so that we can spread God’s word toward purification of sinfulness and acceptance of God’s Kingdom. Today, we add another dimension in which we reach out to the whole world even in times of great difficulty because no one is to be excluded from the Kingdom of God. Salvation is offered to everyone.
In the Letter to the Hebrews, we are told to endure our trials as discipline and accept the pain because God’s acknowledges his love for us in this way. If we are faithful to this, we will receive joy because we look at this suffering as temporary, but leading to a path of restoring us to full health.
The question about who will be saved in St. Luke’s Gospel today, brings into focus the role of the Christian community to proclaim to all Jesus’ teaching about God’s love for the world. In actuality, it answers the purpose for why God created us. What could be greater than to live and die in relationship with God and all He made? Such a life of grace is what all of us should want and pursue in all we do.
Entering through the “narrow gate” as Jesus calls it, is what it takes to be a true disciple. To do so, we must put aside our personal desires to succeed in a world that does not support God’s love for all. Such a commitment speaks volumes to God and to all with whom we come in contact to spread the Gospel message.
An important step to practice our faith in this way is to admit our sinfulness and not only ask God’s forgiveness but to strive constantly to avoid whatever drives us away from a relationship with Him. We must overcome our selfishness and practice selflessness. Like Jesus, we must become the true servant He was while He lived on earth. We must put God and others first no matter how difficult that may be. That’s what the acknowledged saints by the Church did during their time on earth. There was no “I” in their vocabulary.
If we succeed in doing this, it will bring us peace, joy and pain. The peace comes from the realization of knowing that we have truly accepted God’s call to obey His will and in doing so we are given an opportunity to share in a relationship of unprecedented love.
Joy comes from doing God’s will so those we serve are brought to an opportunity of living and dying in God’s will, as God promised to us if we serve Him. In other words, we are acting upon the reason for which we are created; to fulfill our individual purpose.
Pain is a result of being rejected by those who deny God and all that He is. We will not be accepted by people who focus on wealth, power and fame as the way they live. To them, we are forfeiting what they have strived for in their life; to get ahead of others. It sets them back. It is a roadblock to what they see as truth; it's all about them.
Let us take this week and pray about our journey with God. Are we pursuing a path of servitude as Jesus did? Or are we paying lip service by periodically doing something out of our comfort zone when it is convenient? To acknowledge our promise to love God and all He has created we need to take the path least traveled by and enter through the narrow gate. That is what Jesus did out of love and obedience to God His Father when He humbled Himself by becoming human, teaching the Good News, suffering rejection and dying on the cross for our sins.
Will we be as perfect as Jesus was? Probably not! But, God asks us to strive for perfection to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. If we are faithful in that, we like those to whom we reach out are also invited to be saved. So, Yes! All of us are invited to be saved as being created by God. Let’s not pass on the invitation and become active in God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven.
Reading 1: Isaiah 66: 18-21
Reading 2: Hebrews 12: 5-7, 11-13
Gospel: Luke 13: 22-30
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