CHALLENGE OF THE NARROW GATE: WAY TO HEAVEN

Modern psychology gives great importance to “feeling good” and “loving one’s self” as a precondition to love others. But in today’s Gospel passage Jesus warns us that there is no easy way to be His disciples as He declares that the Kingdom of God can be “accessed”only through a “narrow gate.” Obviously, Jesus is not speaking of a material gate but of the “narrow gate” of daily faithfulness to one’s duties and the loyal observance of God’s law in all circumstances of life.

That is what makes life challenging, but that is also the only way that leads to eternal happiness in heaven. In this Eucharist, let us ask for the grace to have the moral strength to choose the “narrow gate” of self-denial, in preference to the wide gate of self-indulgence and other forms of self-gratification.


Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.

After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ He will say to you 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 to you, ‘I do not know where you 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.

And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

"THE HARVEST IS ABUNDANT,
BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW."

Long before any human being dreamed of creating a “New Society” or a “New Order,” God had the plan to fashion humankind into a community characterized by love, solidarity, justice, and peace.

It was Jesus who revealed that “Grand Plan,” called it the KINGDOM OF GOD on earth, and laid its foundation in the group of disciples he had chosen. Before He ascended into heaven, he also commissioned them to proclaim and establish the Kingdom in every nation and human heart.

Today we are reminded that the proclamation and the building of the Kingdom is the call and responsibility not just of the leaders and a few enthusiasts, but of all those who believe in Christ. The Kingdom we are called to build should be viewed as our home and our best aspiration.

At that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.

Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment.

Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, ‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand! I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.”

The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power to ‘tread upon serpents' and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy, and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

So few workers for such an abundant harvest! This remark, justified in the time of Jesus, is more than appropriate today. There is the whole world to be brought to Jesus. Or better, Jesus has to be made present to the whole world. More than five billion human beings have not yet received the Good News. They are not yet aware of how much God loves them and of what a wonderful future He has in store for them!

The workers are few. This is a fact and more. It is a lament, an invitation, and a challenge. For centuries the Church has endeavored to respond to the challenge through her elite troops: the clergy and the religious. Now she has come to realize ever more clearly that she needs many, many more apostles if she is to fulfill her mission of preaching the Gospel to all men.

What was never denied in the past is now proclaimed loud and clear: the Church needs the Laity. They are an immense potential of 99% that has been kept dormant for too many centuries. The 1987 Synod acknowledged it frankly. “Christifiddeles Laici” (the post-synodal exhortation written by Pope John Paul II after that Synod) proclaims it bravely and as a matter of urgency. The time for a re-evangelization has come, and the lay faithful are to play their rightful role in it.

The magnitude of the task to be accomplished should not discourage anyone. It has never been easy to be a worker in the field of God. Jesus told the seventy-two that he was sending them as “lambs in the midst of wolves.” (See Lk 10:3.) Proportionally, the wolves are as numerous today as in the times of Herod and Nero. We need to be as brave as the Apostles, none of whom died of old age, except John.

The harvest is plentiful. Indeed, there is so much to be done. There is peace to be sown and nurtured in the hearts of men, if we want to see it flourish among the nations. There is so much healing to be done among the numberless victims of the terrible cancer called “sin.” There is a Kingdom yet to be proclaimed and established, in the endless alternation of victories and setbacks.

If billions of humans do not know and love Christ, no Christian should try to excuse himself/herself. Woe to us if we do not preach the Gospel! (See 1 Cor 9:16.) This is a duty and a privilege that none of us may delegate to others. The roles and styles may be different and change with the times and circumstances. The essence remains: every Christian is called to be a worker in the harvest of God, today.

FEAST OF THE CORPUS CHRISTI: SEAL OF OUR ALLIANCE WITH GOD

"THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE COVENANT,

WHICH WILL BE SHED FOR MANY."

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.”

The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.”

Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

The Eucharist is a constant reminder that it was with his sacrifice on the Cross that Jesus sealed the alliance between the Father and the whole of humankind. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist we renew this alliance with God as members of His new Chosen People, the Church.

This should be sufficient reason why we cannot be detached or distracted onlookers while the Eucharist is being celebrated. We are among the “contracting parties” and the beneficiaries of the Covenant. Our wholehearted active presence in the celebration manifests our determination to keep the terms of the Covenant by loving God and neighbor as Jesus taught and did.

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, may we be able to express our ardent love for the Eucharist not only today but throughout our lives.