Today's rich readings provide much food for Sunday munching. When asked if only a few people would be saved, Jesus responded with some clear parameters, the classic "narrow gate", being one of them and "the locked door", being another. (Lk 13:22-30). Who can pass through that narrow gate and how does one squeeze through? It's not the person who thinks he can push his way through on his own, but the one who turns his heart and life over to Jesus to be disciplined into "shape" by loving his commands, desiring his promises, and "amid the uncertainties of this world, fixes his heart on that place where true gladness is found." (cf. the Collect for the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time). It is the one who follows the sound advice in this "boot camp training passage" from the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 12: 5-7. 11-13). In accepting our trials and difficulties as necessary "discipline", we shed the fat of too much reliance on self, in order to slim down in order to embrace the relationship Jesus wants to have with us. In these ways, HE will pull us through the narrow gate and open the locked door to us.
Bro Rene
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment