Experiencing God 240 - Strive For The Narrow Door

“Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many will try to enter and will not be able.”

Some evenings when Mary Anne and I have nothing in particular to do, we’ll flip through the channels on the TV to look for a good movie to watch.  There’s an awful lot of trash out there, but when we stumble on to a movie with the caption, “based on a true story” or “inspired by a true story”, it is usually one that we enjoy watching.   The reason for this is because it is usually a story about a person or a family facing a crisis situation or extraordinary circumstances, but who are able to rise above it and overcome it because of their courage, because of their determination in working together, because of their faith.  The courageous choices they make helped them through their difficulty.  And often times it meant not following the norm, the status quo.  We all have these stories to tell.  I believe that each one of you gathered here today, living out your faith, despite many outside resistances, have similar experiences to share. 
We are all on a spiritual journey.  This is true whether we are religious or not.  We all travel some sort of spiritual path.  And every day we make choices that affect the direction we are going.  Some may not even be aware that they are travelling on a spiritual path.  Others may sense that there are many paths, all leading to the same destination. 
Perhaps this is what gives rise to the question posed by a stranger to Jesus in today’s Gospel:  “Lord, will only a few be saved?”  Jesus does not really answer the question, at least not directly.  His only response to this stranger is to strive to enter through the narrow door. 
In this Gospel, and in the other synoptic Gospels, Jesus implies that there are principally two doors or paths that we can take in our spiritual journey.  One path, he says, is wide and heavily populated: it is the way, it seems, that the majority what to go.  The other path is narrow, but travelled by the few.  The challenge that today’s Gospel to us are: Which path are we on?  Are we allowing good choices to affect direction we are taking? 
Perhaps we can take a few moments to explore these two paths that Jesus is speaking about in today’s Gospel.
As I said before, Jesus describes one path as wide and the other as narrow.  One is broad, and the other more restricted.   The path that is described as wide and broad is the one that does not require much effort.  It does not require of us giving up much of anything. In this path, we are allowed to bring along whatever “baggage” we desire whether it be materialism, prejudice, hatred or an unforgiving spirit.  We can believe and do pretty well whatever we want because there are few restrictions concerning beliefs or behaviors. 
The broad way requires no change in lifestyle and our behavior and is based on what we desire for ourselves.  Perhaps it could be described as the “door of least resistance”.  One of the main characteristics of the broad way is the false sense of freedom that it provides.   
And then there is the path that is narrow.  This path, since it is narrow, requires more of our concentration, more of our dedication, more self-denial and obedience to the truth.  In order to join this path, there is no room for a consuming desire for the things of the world because we can become attached to them.  We must let go of our excess baggage because its heaviness will weigh us down. There is no room for an unforgiving spirit or self-righteousness. The narrow path requires an adherence to a certain way of life, and often, a need for a change in our behavior.  On this path, God is building His own character in us, and we are being transformed inwardly so that we may learn to choose wisely as He chooses.
As Jesus encourages us in the Gospel, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate”.  This does not necessarily come naturally to us.  We discover this path, not only by great effort on our part, but also by the right kind of effort.  To find this path, it is necessary that we enter into a discipline of prayer, to consciously seek the Presence of Christ in our lives, to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus tells us each path has its own destination.  The broad way, he says, leads to death while the narrow way leads to life.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells his disciples:  “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  The narrow way requires that we know what this means for us.  When we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we recognize the truth of the Gospel and find refuge in it, it is then that we discover the way that leads to life. 
Jesus does not pull any punches in respect to this as he shares in today’s gospel: “Many will try to enter this narrow way but will not be able too.”  And he tells the story of the person who tried to enter the master’s house after he has retired for the night. 
Standing outside, he shouts: “Master, open to us.  We know all about you.  We ate and drank with you as you taught in the streets.”  But the narrow way requires more than knowing about the Lord; it requires that we walk the path He has prepared for us.  It requires that we have that personal relationship with Him, that guidance from the Holy Spirit.  It is then that we discover that the door has already been opened for us. 
As we hear in the Book of Revelation, Jesus is saying to us:  “Here I am. I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” 
So in summary, Jesus is presenting an image for us to learn by, to be used as a guide.  I don’t think it is helpful to use this image to judge others as to where they may be.  The zig zag pattern of my own life’s journey would certainly indicate that I was not always solidly following the way recommended by Jesus.  But it is in our desire to follow in His truth, and to make the necessary adjustments to live more fully by that truth that we have the promise of “new life”; the fullness of life now, a sharing in His resurrection in the life to come.  There are many steps we can take to help us travel the path that leads to New Life, but a foundational step, one particular aspect for us to work on, is to hold on to God’s truth.  In doing so we discover that it is this truth that illuminates our path for the journey; it is this truth that guides us on the path prepared for us by God.  As we read in the psalm:  “His word is a lamp for our feet, and a light to our path.”  Let us pray for the determination, the courage, and guidance from the Holy Spirit to follow in this path he has prepared for us.

Experiencing God 239 - Riches Towards God

Alfred rose early and set about to prepare his morning cup of tea.  He was more anxious than normal this morning as he was thinking about his brother who had passed away a few days before.  He hastily glanced through the morning paper looking for news of the event.  When he turned to the obituary section, he was shocked to see his own name listed among the deceased.  The newspaper had published Alfred’s obituary in error instead of his brother’s.  But he was even more appalled when he saw the obituary title:  “The Merchant Of Death Is Dead”.  The article described him as someone who had found new ways to kill people and becoming very rich in the process.  Is this what people really think of me? He thought.  Of course, the description was somewhat true.  You see Alfred had invented dynamite and other types of explosives that were being used as weapons of war.  And the sale of the explosives did make him very rich.  But was he really the evil person described in the obituary?  Well Alfred certainly didn’t think so; but it started him thinking. 

Before he was to finish that first cup of tea that morning, he realized that he had to change his life.  In a moment, he resolved that he would no longer focus on developing instruments of war to gain riches for himself. 
Instead, he vowed to devote his time and resources to improving the lives of others.  The rest of his life would be dedicated to working for world peace. 

At the end of his life in 1896, Alfred left most of his very sizable estate to finance generous awards for those who would follow in this work of peace.  His full and well-known name, even to us today, was Alfred Bernhard Nobel. 

Most of us will never experience such a life-changing event as Alfred Nobel did.  But his experience of facing his own unflattering obituary might give us reason to reflect on our own priorities.  Are we focusing excessively on accumulating more things?  Are we striving for a higher rung on the social ladder?  Are we spending excessive energy on obtaining what we feel is rightfully ours? 

St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians reminds us that our lives are surrounded with many passing things.  And these passing things can, if we allow them, occupy most of our thoughts, time and energy; but unfortunately, they will never fully satisfy us.  Matthew Kelly in his most recent book called “Rediscover the Saints” wrote:  “We all have restless hearts.  And we so often mistakenly believe that certain things like possessions, pleasures and experiences will make us happy for longer than they do.  We have all made those mistakes, and yet God waits for us; waits for us, like a patient Father.”  

St. Paul tells us today: “Set your hearts on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.”  In other words, all that we do, our social involvements, our family relationships, and our work should reflect our faith in Jesus, our love for God, and the love we must have for one another. 

St. Paul teaches us that we should “put to death" those parts of our earthy reality that does not conform to the life that God desires for us, whether it be immorality, impurity, evil desire or greed.  We must put on a new self; we must be renewed in the image of our creator. 

I believe we all know this.  We have heard it many times over the years from the Wisdom scriptures, from the Gospels and from others; yet, for some reason, it is something that is so easy for us to forget as we get distracted and carried away by so many things around us. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us two stories to illustrate how easy it is to become obsessive about the passing things of the world.  The first story is about a man caught up in a dispute over a family inheritance.  This man feels that his brother has taken advantage of him, and wants Jesus to be his arbitrator in settling the account.  And of course, Jesus wants nothing to do with this.  The lesson for us from this story is that, in the Kingdom of God, our lives will not be defined by our possessions. 

To explain this, Jesus goes on to tell the story of the rich man who has had an abundant crop.  His thoughts are not on sharing his abundance with those who have little or nothing, but on creating his own security nest egg where all the comforts of life will be available to him. 

Jesus shows us the folly of this hoarding of worldly goods when he warns the rich man; “this very night your life will be demanded of you; and for all those things you have accumulated, to whom will they now belong?  The rich man does not even recognize that he has become a prisoner of his own possessions.  He lives only to accumulate.  Sure, he’s able to increase his wealth and amass goods, but when death calls, to what end does it serve.    

Neither Jesus nor St. Paul condemns us for our accomplishments, or the use of our gifts to provide for our needs and the needs of our family.  They both know that money is important to us, that we need it to house, feed, clothe and care for those trusted to our care.  But they urge us to consider just how vital our wealth really is.  Is it such an obsession that we allow it to dominate our lives?  Have we become slaves to our possessions? 

Each of us have been given certain gifts by God, including our intelligence, our physical abilities, our time, and our talents.  Even our wealth and material possessions are gifts from God.  The question that we must always ask ourselves, even as challenging as it may be: "Do I use the gifts that God has given me to create riches in God’s eyes, or am I only storing up treasures for myself?" 

Alfred Nobel needed that time; he needed that moment of awakening to realize that his abundance was given him, not just for himself, but to serve God and to serve others.  How may we, perhaps in the many small ways we can, share our gifts of time talent and treasure to become rich before God?