The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today urge us to contemplate our response to the plan of God to be in eternal relationship with us.
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| Move to narrow gate |
The passage from the Letter to the Romans includes Romans 8:28 and the declaration of God’s Love in Christ that is impossible to defeat.
* [8:28–30] These verses outline the Christian vocation as it was designed by God: to be conformed to the image of his Son, who is to be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom 8:29). God’s redemptive action on behalf of the believers has been in process before the beginning of the world. Those whom God chooses are those he foreknew (Rom 8:29) or elected. Those who are called (Rom 8:30) are predestined or predetermined. These expressions do not mean that God is arbitrary. Rather, Paul uses them to emphasize the thought and care that God has taken for the Christian’s salvation.1
Psalm 13 is a heartfelt prayer to thank God.
* [Psalm 13] A typical lament, in which the psalmist feels forgotten by God (Ps 13:2–3)—note the force of the repetition of “How long.” The references to enemies may suggest some have wished evil on the psalmist. The heartfelt prayer (Ps 13:4–5) passes on a statement of trust (Ps 13:6a), intended to reinforce the prayer, and a vow to thank God when deliverance has come (Ps 13:6b).2
The Narrow Door and our choice of salvation and rejection are themes in the Gospel of Luke.
* [13:22–30] These sayings of Jesus follow in Luke upon the parables of the kingdom (Lk 13:18–21) and stress that great effort is required for entrance into the kingdom (Lk 13:24) and that there is an urgency to accept the present opportunity to enter because the narrow door will not remain open indefinitely (Lk 13:25). Lying behind the sayings is the rejection of Jesus and his message by his Jewish contemporaries (Lk 13:26) whose places at table in the kingdom will be taken by Gentiles from the four corners of the world (Lk 13:29). Those called last (the Gentiles) will precede those to whom the invitation to enter was first extended (the Jews). See also Lk 14:15–24.3
Scott McClure is struck by the openness and humility it must have taken for Jesus' listeners to truly hear his message and have it sink in. Just as much now as it did then, Jesus' message flips things upside down, challenging us to reconsider our values and way of living and what it is we truly seek.
Indeed, our faith tells us that Mary had such humility in her receptiveness to God's invitation to be the mother of his son. Let us, then, ask Mary for her intercession that we may be granted the openness to hear God's call and respond to his seeking of us.4
Don Schwager quotes “To enter the narrow door,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"'Wide is the door, and broad the way that brings down many to destruction.' What are we to understand by its broadness? ...A stubborn mind will not bow to the yoke of the law [the commandments of God]. This life is cursed and relaxed in all carelessness. Thrusting from it the divine law and completely unmindful of the sacred commandments, wealth, vices, scorn, pride and the empty imagination of earthly pride spring from it. Those who would enter in by the narrow door must withdraw from all these things, be with Christ and keep the festival with him." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 99)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Romans 8:26-30 asks have we ever been tempted to question Paul’s assertion that God is always working for your good?
We don’t know why God allows people to suffer. But we do know this: when Jesus became a human being like us, he experienced temptation, rejection, and loneliness, just as we do. He knew the heaviness of grief and a troubled heart. He suffered physical discomforts like hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and of course, he suffered both physical and mental agony in his passion and death.
It’s immensely comforting to know that Jesus understands exactly what we are going through because he has been through it before.6
Friar Jude Winkler cites the aid to our weakness through the Spirit in Romans 8. Predestination means we were created so we would be saved. Friar Jude is reminded by the Gospel that we need more than lip service to pass through the narrow door.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM comments Christianity isn’t done growing and changing. Jesus himself invites us to take things out of our faith-filled “storage room” and discern what is essential. (Matthew 13:52) We don’t want the church or the Christian tradition to become an antique shop just preserving old things. We want to build on old things and allow them to be useful in different ages, vocabularies, and cultures. We want our faith to be ever new, so that it can speak to souls alive and in need right now! Otherwise, the faith we cherish so much stops working and it can’t do its job of turning our hearts to God and to one another.
The Church should not minimise the radically different nature of its revelation. Christian revelation is founded in the person of Jesus who invites us into the freedom of God’s love . . . nevertheless, for too much of its history, indeed since the time of Constantine, the Catholic Church has not in practice demonstrated this God-offered freedom but has rather been associated with worldly power . . . [and] it is important to acknowledge this historical failing of the Christian Church.
Like Sebastian Moore, I believe that at times we as a church have lost the thread, so to speak, and been more concerned with power and privilege than Jesus’ life and teachings. Too often our leadership has relied on shame and fear to influence people far more than love, which Jesus was all about.7
Our trust in God is embodied in the sense of Romans 8:28. We rely on the inspiration of the Spirit to move our lip service to action as disciples of Jesus.
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