"...enter by the narrow door..." 21st Sunday OT C

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Brothers and sisters, In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus urges us to enter Heaven through the narrow gate. How do we enter the narrow gate? The answer is given in today’s Second reading. God disciplines us, to enable us to enter the narrow gate. This gate is not wide enough to allow sin, lukewarm lifestyle, absence of love for God, irresponsibility, evil inclinations or so on. The narrow gate allows us to pass through, when we are shaped according to our Almighty Father’s will. 

God Himself will teach us how to enter the narrow gate in our day-to-day life. If God is pushing us out of our comfort zone or if we feel that there are a few thorns in our body, then God is disciplining us to be better people. He will ask us to throw away some of our regularly practiced mistakes to show us something new!! So in these situations instead of feeling down, burying ourselves in our couch, complaining to everyone about the hardships that we are undergoing, we need to realise that God has made this set-up for a purpose. Sometimes hardship may be the only boat for us to sail to Heaven. Without it, we would have gone astray. Let us not mind about the hard life, but be strong-willed to walk in any direction God shows us. Like the Israelites, God will provide us with the Manna for food and water from rock to drink while we are undergoing the difficult changes.

 In Jesus Christ, God our Father has opened for us the way back. By His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ has paid the price and bought us back. Salvation, however, requires our response to God’s offer. Salvation is, therefore, not automatic. Salvation is possible only when we respond to God’s offer. After all, a gift is not truly a gift unless and until it has been received. So to be saved, we need to honestly look at our decisions in response to God’s redeeming love for us. Do our decisions accept God’s gift to us?

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