August 25^th 2019.  Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 13,22-30

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Luke 13:22-30

Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
"Lord, will only a few people be saved?"
He answered them,
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
'Lord, open the door for us.'
He will say to you in reply,
'I do not know where you are from.
And you will say,
'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.'
Then he will say to you,
'I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!'
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about the “narrow gate” to salvation. But then he says that people will come from east and west, north and south, to sit at the banquet of the Kingdom. So we are being told that the gate is narrow, yet it is open to everyone! What does this mean? Salvation does not come to us automatically, just by virtue of the fact that we receive the sacraments or live “religious” lives. Entry to the Kingdom requires going through the narrow gate of humility. We must have genuine poverty of Spirit, always considering ourselves unworthy to be in the presence of God. We should always feel surprise that the Lord has invited us, has forgiven us, has united himself to us. But instead there is so much pride, arrogance and self-celebration in us! That is why the gate is narrow and so few enter! Woe to me if I take my salvation for granted. May I always realise that I am poor, insufficient and in danger of falling, someone who is in desperate need of salvation. Thus do I enter the narrow door of the Kingdom.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about the “narrow gate” to salvation. But then he says that people will come from east and west, north and south, to sit at the banquet of the Kingdom. So we are being told that the gate is narrow, yet it is open to all. What does this mean?

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah announces that the Lord will gather all peoples to himself. And some of them will becomes priests. Previously in the Old Testament, the pagans, the uncircumcised, were considered absolutely incompatible with the priesthood! With this key, the Church invites us to approach the Gospel reading in which Jesus talks about the “narrow gate” to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is responding to the question of how many people will be saved. And, even though Jesus is talking about the narrowness of the gate, the first reading reveals to us that there is something very open about this gate. In fact, Jesus goes on to say that people will come from the east and the west, the north and the south, and will eat at the banquet of the Kingdom. So why does Jesus appear to speak so negatively about those who are actually listening to him at that moment, as if the gate were too narrow for them? He is addressing those who consider themselves to be already “in”, who consider themselves to have merited salvation. Instead, we should always consider ourselves to be strangers who have come from afar, who do not deserve redemption.

Salvation does not come to us automatically, just by virtue of the fact that we receive the sacraments. Entry to the Kingdom requires going through the narrow gate of humility. We must have genuine poverty of Spirit, always considering ourselves unworthy to be in the presence of God. We should always feel surprise that the Lord has invited us, has forgiven us, has united himself to us. But instead there is so much pride, arrogance and self-celebration in us! That is why the gate is narrow and so few enter!

Salvation is not something administered by an office. Even our participation in the sacraments does not guarantee anything. Salvation is reserved for the narrow gate called “humility”, to those who have genuine poverty of spirit. We should always be surprised that the Lord has admitted us, has permitted us to enter. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who are all mentioned in the text, were poor according to human logic. Abraham was unable to have children, and neither Isaac nor Jacob were first-born sons but were still able to enter into the inheritance promised to them. They were elected by surprise, and that is how life is for each of us! Our election is not a right but a work of God, a pure gift. It is a generous action of God, but requires an attitude of humble surprise on our part. Who among us has deserved the limitless mercy of God, the forgiveness of sins, or to be worthy of receiving the body of the Lord? We must always repeat, “I am not worthy to enter into your banquet”. This is the narrow door that we must pass through. And it is a door that admits few and excludes the multitude because there is so much triumphalism in us, pride and self-celebration. This narrow gate of littleness opens to us often. The one who enters the Kingdom is the one who feels that he doesn’t deserve it, yet he knows his own needfulness of salvation.

Woe to me if I take my salvation for granted.

Our participation in the sacraments, our communion with the body of Christ, our listening to his Word – none of these things guarantees us anything unless we have passed through this gate of littleness, our awareness of our own poverty. People will come from east and west, north and south, because we know that we have no other destiny except destruction unless the Lord saves us. Woe to us if we take our salvation for granted. Whenever we pray the liturgy of the hours, we begin with “Oh Lord, come to save me, Oh Lord make haste to help me”. This is not the saying of someone who is sure of himself but rather that of one who knows he is in danger of sinking. We know that we are at risk of falling, and this prompts us to humility, enabling us to cross the threshold of the narrow door to salvation.