Life Through The Narrow Door

It's the 28th Sunday already, and I'd like to write down here those insights that have since stayed with me since the 21st Sunday when Jesus responded to the question "Lord will only a few be saved?" - STRIVE TO ENTER THROUGH THE NARROW DOOR! Since then, my Sunday reflections for the homily have been guided by this striving to enter and live inside this Narrow Door - Christ!

21st Sunday - Strive to enter through the Narrow Door. I had this chance way back year 2000 at the Shrine of Mount Carmel. It was a Sunday then, and many people went there: people with blond hair, white hair, black hair; tall, short, man, woman, child, people in pants, people in skirt, people of all colors, races, yes for that was the year Pope John Paul II went to the Holy Land and I was blessed to have been given that once in my lifetime trip (I hope I can go there again, God willing). We were lined up, cueing for our time to see the tower of the Shrine. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow, and moving slowly in. And Lo! The door was shut right before my face. And I remembered the Gospel where Christ was supposed to have told His disciples that it will indeed be shut. Woe is me! I said. I was moved to tears at that experience. What if this really took place when I am about to enter heaven. I just prayed and hoped that moment won't happen. Meantime, I waited with the rest. I stayed put, waited, and thoughts came as time passed by. Soon enough the door was opened again, and I was able to enter that door. We went up and Lo! What a beautiful sight. Up in that tower was a sketch such that if you see North certain places in Israel can be seen; the same with the South, East and West. Waah!! If the door did not open, I would have missed this chance of a lifetime. But that experience made me realize the generosity of God. Yes, my entry through that door was through the mercy of God. That made me realize that for as long as I wait, the door will be opened, and He will let in those who have patiently waited. Hence, Christian life is really a life through the mercy and love of God Who in His Son has invited everyone to come and enter through Him, the Narrow Door.

The 22nd Sunday showed us Jesus dining in the house of one of the leading Pharisees in His time. He said there: "When you're invited to a wedding banquet, recline not in the place of honor at table lest a more distinguished guest come up and you be told to step back to give way..." That Sunday gave me the thought of our self-importance often coming with us. Now that we're inside the Narrow Door, it may be of great help to learn to place ourselves in such a way as to be given importance, and not to aggrandize that importance on ourselves, lest we be embarrassed. The human person can indeed be vulnerable to this because each one craves to be given that importance. And He has indeed given us that importance. He has given us His only Son. Before God, we are important or else, how could He have decided to offer us His live in His Son Jesus? Indeed, none of us in Christ can say we are not important. We have been given such value as to be ransomed at such a price: His Blood! Christian life then is a celebation of being given that importance such that we don't have to take upon ourselves that importance in case we may feel we haven't been given so. The word humility really brings the idea clearer: humus or soil from which we have been created. We have been raised from the dust, so to say and been breathed on His own Spirit that cries inside of us Abba Father, as His Son Jesus cried our Abba Father to the One Who sent Him.

On the 23rd Sunday, a challenge was posed. Jesus told His disciples that "if anyone comes to me without hating his faher, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." Then He spoke of two parables: one about someone who wanted to build a tower and needed to assess one's resources before doing so lest he not finish it and be jeered at; the other was a king who was to wage war with another king who had more forces than his own. That Sunday made me think that indeed, while we're still close to the door, we can still make a choice: are we really in, is this really what we want? Or, if we don't think so, we can still exit. The Door is not far away yet, so to say. Yet, come to think of it: our entry has been out of His generosity. Our survival, growth and happiness inside that Narrow Door will also be due to His ongoing mercy and love! He will supply whatever we lack. It is important that whatever we meet while in, we learn to trust in Him Who has more than we can ever think of. Carrying ones cross and following Him is learning to accept the reality of life without fear, and with realism learn to entrust to Him Whom we follow. We do our best, He does the rest.

The 24th Sunday had the whole 15th chapter of St. Luke's account of the One Gospel: Jesus Christ. My thoughts then were these: (a) like the coin the old woman looked for, our being found was to be so essential. Had the woman not found that coin, she would not have been able to buy what she wanted. It's as if, if we were not found, we continued to be lost, God would not have become really God. Money that is not exact can't buy anything. God without mercy and love is not yet the God Who is Mercy. (b) The lost one's value is equal to that of the 99's. The Shepherd went out searching for the lost one while having the fact that he still had 99! No, one less is not his joy. Joy is greater at finding the lost one! For the lost one is equal to the 99 who are left waiting. And each one among the 99 can be given such an importance and value. Well, there is no need to give the Shepherd such difficulties at finding us by allowing ourselves to be lost only to be found?! If only we learn what difficulties the lost one has gone through! (c) The Parable of the Prodigal Son really tells us what the lost one goes through. And God very well understands, He waits on us, runs to us and gives us back our dignity as beloved, celebrating our having been found in conversion! Oh what a life inside the Narrow Door we have been allowed entry into!

The parable of the Sower was proclaimed on the 25th Sunday this year. As we live deeper after we have been allowed entry into the Narrow Door, God continues to sow in us His life-giving Word. He talks to us in our lives, and when we let His Word live in us, we are letting that Word bear fruit in us. The other types of soil on which the Word fell are challenges for us to learn about ourselves. And HE gives us a choice: to be the fertile soil borne out of fidelity. Or to live in doubt and fear, to live in hard-heartedness and unforgiveness. If only we are generous enough to let His Word grow in us through a faithful life!

Indeed, life inside the Narrow Door can be very challenging! Yet, the Gospel of the 26th Sunday showed us a rich man (without a name) and Lazarus, the beggar living outside the rich man's house's gate. The parable was addressed to Pharisees, and these are the thoughts I had then: (1) the disparity between the rich and the poor appear symbolic of the rejection the Pharisees did to those who were classified as "sinners." This disparity between heaven and hell was also demonstrated, hence, already from the perspective of the Pharisees, no one gets to the other side. (2) I thought it was really unfortunate for the rich man to have not even given the poor man even just a look. I think this takes place when there is some internal obstacle. When I look back at my own experience, this difficulty comes when one has resolved to no longer allow oneself to be hurt by the other, or maybe fooled by the other. I just thought of the many times beggars came and asked for some aid, and some of them really came armed with fake prescription papers. They say they want medicines, but actually they need money. When someone gets hurt by the other or gets fooled, the tendency is to keep the other out of one's life such that even a glance becomes too difficult to do. Had the rich man even given just a look at the poor man, he may have had experienced already here on earth the "drop" of water he was asking Abraham for Lazarus to drop on him. (3) The challenge then for us who are "in" the Narrow Door is to learn compassion which can only take place when we shall have known what is deep inside us. Let me end my reflection here for a while. I shall write some more on this in the coming days. God bless