Today’s Gospel brings up a subject that many either reject or feel that Church no longer teaches. The Church still teaches it because Jesus addressed it many times. It is the question of Hell. Here Jesus invites us to not be the like the majority who walk the wide road to their own destruction. He calls us to walk the narrow road to salvation.
Let us talk about what this all means.
First: a simple instruction. Just as the physical world is run by a set of laws, so it is in the spiritual world. Exorcists tell us that the devil is intensely legalistic. He accuses us by virtue of the spiritual laws and our ability to adhere to God’s laws, which we call commandments. Jesus saves us by living the law perfectly. His death is the culmination of him living the law perfectly and by doing so we are saved provided that we choose to be part of God’s kingdom.
If we sincerely repent, even though the devil accurately accuses us us of our sin, God alone imposes the sentence and he forgives those who choose to be part of his Kingdom through the death and resurrection of His Son. Here is where the difficult part comes. Those who choose not to be part of that kingdom, by default, choose that world outside of it, which is the realm of the devil a place we call Hell. The devil accurately accuses them and they have no recourse for they chose not to repent or to be part of God’s Kingdom. By the way, those who teach that after one dies he has more opportunities to repent are incorrect. There is nothing in Church teaching that says that. Those who go to purgatory are in need of purification, but their quest for Heaven is over and it is just a matter of time before they are there and they are saints.
Those who reject Christ, and therefore His kingdom end up in the default which is Hell. Needless to say, it is not a happy place to say the least. Read St Faustina to learn the parameters of Hell.
Jesus affirms all this by His words, but calls us to choose the path to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the narrow path. What is this path. It is simply a choice of what our ultimate priorities are.
Where do you desire to be at the end of your life and what will you do to get there? If you desire Heaven then make the choices that lead you there. Choose whatever in your life pleases God. This means as many in the world make choices that run counter to your way of living, you will be seen not choosing to be like them. Seek to be people of virtue and prayer and seek what holiness is, being fully human and fully alive. This is what the sacraments help us to do. Then trust in God’s mercy and love.
However, there is question 2, who do you want to bring with you and what will you do to get them there.
St. Alphonsus Liguori warns priest for example that we are in grave danger of Hell, if we show up at the gates of Heaven and have no other soul to show for our efforts than our own.
You may worry about your son or daughter, your neighbor or your brother or sister, however, we have a duty to pray for these people who are away from Christ so that they may find salvation. Our prayers are powerful and the saints taught that. So pray for your children who are away from the Church. The funeral liturgy reminds us that those who in their heart have a desire to do God’s will have an openness to God’s grace. Your prayers create and build that openness. Their salvation is partially through our efforts for ourselves and them.
St. Alphonsus Liguori taught: Those who pray are saved and those who don’t are not.
Jesus is calling us to prioritize our efforts at getting what we want by deciding what it is that we want ultimately: Heaven or what the world can offer us. Now if we find ourselves surrounded with many earthly goods, that is not a bad thing in itself. It is only if we value them more than our own salvation.
This is the tension between us and the world. Many will tell us that we have to update our teachings. Let me change the wording, they want us to fit better on the wide road and keep away from the narrow road. The narrow road leads to eternal life and the directions are to do what pleases God in loving Him and neighbor. The wide road leads to Hell and the directions are “look out for number 1”, “I have to do what is best for me.” “I have to be who I believe I am not who God says I am supposed to be”. The narrow road is based in obedience to God’s will for us in our lives and the wide road is based in disobedience to God’s will and an obstinacy in our will for our own lives.
Pope St John Paul II prior to his elevation in 1978 announced this warning in Philadelphia that is apropos to our time.
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God’s Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.”
Clearly he indicates we are in the time to choose our priorities and work to serve God in prayer for those who do not understand the need to be on the narrow road.
Even being on the narrow road, we are not perfect and so we need to repent of our sins. The Bible warns that the just person sins seven times daily. St. John warns that those who say they are without sin are liars. Hard-heartedness which is blindness and obstinacy in sin is what leads to Hell. Unfortunately, we can see plenty of it around us.
Ask the Lord Jesus to give you a healthy sense of sin and a good spirit of repentance and he will change your life and he will show your the road to holiness.
To focus on the narrow road is to focus on seeking that which leads to salvation and that is always rooted in forming our lives into ways that glorify God. When we pursue to grow in virtue out of love for God and we turn away from those habits we call sins that draw us from God.
God Bless you,
Fr. Robert J Carr
Fr. Carr is member of the Segundo Elo of the Canção Nova Community. He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MAand is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube. You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google plus as+FrRobertCarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook