An average of 102 people die on the
roads in the United States, every day. Approximately 37, 230 per year. None of
the 102 people who will die on the roads today, will be expecting it. I wonder if
any of them, after they died and faced God, were asked what was the most
important thing they could have done in their life, what would they say?
Jesus is asked this question, ‘Lord,
will only a few people be saved?’ And his answer is, ‘Try to enter by the
narrow door.’ What is the ‘narrow door’?
The narrow door is simply,
trying to live as the Lord Jesus taught us; keeping the commandments of God and
keeping to what we know is right, regardless of what everyone else is doing.
That is the narrow door. Not sleeping with someone before you are married, as
the Lord taught, keeping Sunday holy, not stealing, or killing, or lying, etc. The
Lord gave us the Commandments as a guideline, or a blueprint, for living. If we
follow them we will flourish, they will help us to do well as people. They make
for a society that works, but if we just do our own thing, we will get into
trouble. It is a narrow door because there are many other doors, or ways, which
seem more attractive. ‘Why should I have to obey rules? Why can’t I do whatever
I want?’ You can do whatever you want, but our actions have consequences and
that is why the Lord gives us commandments, to help us to make the best choices
which will lead us on the most fulfilling path.
The story of Adam and Eve
in the garden of Eden, is teaching us the same thing. It is saying that as
people we have limits which we must not go beyond. God has given us boundaries
which we must respect. We must not play God, deciding who lives and dies;
euthanasia and abortion. If we do, we won’t be able to handle it. That’s why
the Lord told them not to touch the tree of good and evil. It is a symbol of
our limitations. We must not be the ones to ultimately decide what is good and
evil, but to listen to what God tells us is good and evil. Look at what is
happening in our world as we decide what is ultimately good and evil. We say
abortion is wrong, but it depends… That’s not what God tells us.
As soon as Eve took the
fruit from the tree of good and evil, they were in trouble, they felt guilt and
shame, they were confused and they didn’t know why. The story is teaching us
that they had gone beyond their limits as human beings and so they couldn’t
handle it. They needed God’s help again. When God came to them in the garden,
he asked them why they were hiding, what was wrong? God wasn’t just giving out
to them, but helping them to see where they had gone wrong. ‘Have you been
eating from the tree from which I forbade you?’ ‘Who told you that you were
naked?’ Whatever God does is always to help us, but we often don’t see it that
way and we cry out to God, ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ That’s what the
second reading is talking about. Parents discipline their children because they
love them. As parents you can see a bigger picture than your children, which is
why you don’t let them do whatever they want, or they will ruin themselves.
When we are children we need to learn what our boundaries are, what is right
and wrong and that our actions have consequences. God does the exact same thing
with us.
The ten Commandments are
to help us, but just like with children, we don’t always see the wisdom in them.
Then when Jesus came along, he helped people to understand these laws at a
deeper level. He began to teach people to live from the heart, to pray from the
heart. Many times in St. Matthew’s gospel we hear where Jesus quotes the Law,
which is from the Commandments and then he says, ‘But I say this to you.’ ‘You
have heard how it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy, but I say
this to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ Jesus is
teaching us to live at a deeper level, at the level of the heart, so that we’re
not just doing the bare minimum. Outward observances are not enough.
I have two dear friends in
the Poor Clares in my hometown of Galway. The Poor Clares are a contemplative Religious
order, which means they dedicate their whole lives to praying for everyone else
and they don’t leave the monastery. I remember a friend of mine saying, ‘Those
women are so holy.’ And I was thinking, not necessarily so! They probably are,
but it depends completely on how each one lives out their calling. They live a
lifestyle which should lead them to great holiness, but it depends how they
live it. It is the same for all of us and that’s what Jesus is saying in this
Gospel. It is not just those who say they belong to God, but those who
actually live what the Lord teaches us. There will be no use in saying, ‘But I
was a Catholic and went to mass,’ if we were not living as God teaches us the
rest of the time.
Perhaps the most important part of
all this is to realize that our strength to go through the narrow door, begins
with our relationship with Jesus. Our faith is not belief in a teaching, or
idea, but a relationship with a person. Once this relationship grows then it
makes it possible to live the way he asks us to, not the other way around.
People often get bogged down with Catholicism because they begin with all the
controversial issues and of course they get disheartened.
If we focus first on God
and on trying to get to know him a little bit more, then the other issues begin
to fall into place. Our relationship with God must come first, through prayer, the
mass, reading the word of God, then everything else begins to make sense.
‘Try your best to enter by the narrow
door.’
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