21st Sunday - Road to Heaven is Narrow

 

In the Gospel today, someone asked Jesus, “Lord will only a few people be saved?” He answered them with an answer that many would not want to hear. He said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.”

Jesus Himself is the narrow gate. Remember, what He told Thomas, the apostle, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus is the way. But not everyone will follow Jesus, the good Shepherd and His way.

Our Lord says something that shocked His listeners. He said, “After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then you stand outside knocking and saying, “Lord, open the door for us.” He will say 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, “I do not know where 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.”

What Jesus is trying to tell His disciples, is that some of them, who eat with Him, who listen to His sermons and perhaps who have even seen Him work miracles, such as healing the sick or expelling demons, are not truly following Him. But rather, they come just to see and hear what He is doing. They were visibly with Him and listened to Him and maybe even liked what He said, but in practice, they were not true followers. They were not following the narrow way.

The Gentiles had to give up their pagan practices, such as burning incense to idols. Perhaps many had the habit of cursing and getting drunk. They were not changing their lives and this would have been true with the Jews too. 

The Jews enjoyed being with Jesus. They liked to hear His sermons, and watch Him heal people, but they were not ready to give up their sinful ways  and to truly believe Jesus is the Messiah. But, He warned them, that it was not good enough to eat and drink with Him, and to be in His company, they must also deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him, wholeheartedly.

They heard the fullness of truth about Him, and yet rejected what He asked them to do and therefore placed their souls in danger of going to hell.

Here are some quotes from some saints about the narrow gate that are astonishing. St. Francis Xavier said, 'Ah, how many souls lose Heaven and are cast into Hell!'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice said, 'Our chronicles relate an even more dreadful happening. One of our brothers, well-known for his doctrine and holiness, was preaching in Germany. He represented the ugliness of the sin of impurity-- so forceful that a woman fell dead of sorrow in front of everyone. Then, coming back to life, the woman said, "When I was presented before the Tribunal of God, sixty thousand people arrived at the same time from all parts of the world; out of that number, three were saved by going to Purgatory, and all the rest were damned.'

Pope Saint Gregory the Great said, 'There are many who arrive at the faith, but few that are led into the heavenly kingdom.'

Saint Jacinta Marto of Fatima said, 'So many people are going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! So many people falling into hell!'

St. Augustine said, 'It is certain that few are saved.'

St. Justin the martyr said, 'The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue.'

Sister Lucia of Fatima said, 'Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved”.

St. Benedict Labore said, 'Yes, indeed, many will be damned; few will be saved.'

St. Anthony Mary Claret said, 'A multitude of souls fall into the depths of Hell, and it is of the faith that all who die in mortal sin are condemned for ever and ever. According to statistics, approximately 80,000 persons die every day. How many of these will die in mortal sin, and how many will be condemned! For, as their lives have been, so also will be their end.'

St. Regimius of Rheims said, “With the exception of those who die in childhood, most men will be damned.

St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Philip Neri, St. John of the Cross, St. John Vianney, St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, Ven. Mary Agreda, and many others say the majority go to hell and few are saved.

When Our Lady of Fatima showed the three children the vision of hell, it caused them to offer many sacrifices and do penance for sermons. Out of penance, the children tied a rope around their waist, but the Virgin Mary told them to take it off at night when they go to bed. In another words, it pleased God that they were sacrificing themselves for others. The children also gave their food to poor children, while they themselves went hungry. Their desire for everyone to go to heaven and the horror of hell moved their hearts to truly love others and help them salvation.

With these sobering words from the saints. We cannot judge the other heart of another person, but we can see by their actions, we need to pray for them.

Holy Mother Church wants to keep us from hypocrisy—to ensure we live by what we believe and so she give us rules, restrictions and requirements and we follow them with love.

Today, let us strive to unite our heart to our actions to practice the virtue of religion to follow that the narrow path to have a repentant heart filled with grace and love. The faith we profess must be lived. Our actions speak louder than our words. Otherwise, as Pope John Paul II said, if we profess our faith and don’t live as one redeemed, it is “practical atheism.”

May words of the saints cause us to pray for the conversion of sinners, offer sacrifices for them, and for us, may we frequent the sacraments of confession and Holy Communion, in this way we will choose the narrow road trusting if we persevere to the end, we will be counted with the few and not the many who will be lost. All of us are human, we are all sinners, but we trust in God's mercy as Psalm 13 says, "My hope O Lord, is in your mercy." The Lord is constantly offering His infinite mercy to everyone. We need to trust in God’s mercy. Our Lord opens wide His Heart to bestow His mercy.

O Jesus, our savior, we can do nothing good without your help and grace. Help us to always be faithful to you in our words, our actions and in our heart and we entrust our self to the Virgin Mary, as St. Anselm said, 'It is impossible to be saved, if we turn away from thee, O Mary.'