May the Lord grant you a deep awareness of His love and His Presence and His desire for your love, my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord! Our Divine Lord, in response to someone’s question, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” said to him and thus all of us, “…enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you will try to enter and not be strong enough.” ( Luke 13:23-24) Our Lord also added, perhaps on another occasion, “… for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many; but the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few.” ( Matthew 7:12-14) Wow! What a contrast to the present mentality where lots of people think they are going to heaven no matter what! It seems that whether they have made Christ the Lord of their lives or not, whether they worship Him at Mass or not, whether they live lives in accordance with His commandments or not, whether they confess their sins and are trying to lead holy lives or not, it’s all okay, because they say, “God understands,” as if He were just a cosmic marshmallow. Some say things like, “Well I received my sacraments at ICS,” or “I used to be an altar boy, so I’m Catholic,” but yet they no longer attend Mass or pray and they party away with no thought to the present state of their soul.
 
Continuing along the same line of thinking, these and others add “I don’t have any sins; I gave up going to confession in grammar school. After all, I didn’t murder anyone,” as if there were not another nine commandments and whole way of life that Jesus expects of those who say they believe in Him. Or “I only go to Mass once in a while, my family is too busy,” et cetera, et cetera, et cetera! And then there is the “I disagree with the Church about this or that,” which may be true but sometimes the person doesn’t know or understand, or in some cases, doesn’t care to understand, what we actually believe, probably because it means embracing the truth. Contrast this with the Lord’s words quoted above about the wide and easy way that leads to destruction!
 
The Lord tells us it is not enough just to say one believes in Him. St. James, in his letter, tells us that “... even the devil believes,” but that doesn’t save him because he is evil and his actions are evil. Our way of life as Catholic Christians is all about a loyalty and love for Christ that is shown in actions and by faithfulness. Look again at the Lord’s own words about all the excuses that people back then would make as they were being judged at the end: “… on that day you will say ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ ” They figured just being distant acquaintances was enough! His response to this will be , “I do not know where you are from. Depart from Me you evil doers!” Imagine being shut out of heaven forever! Our Lord did not mince His words! Sounds tough? Well it is; salvation is serious business! The reward of the Kingdom is for those who are loyal, faithful and true to Christ. It is a tough road, not an easy one. It involves sacrifice and a change of heart and mentality; but the good news is that it is obtainable with God’s grace! So the question is, are you on the straight and narrow path or not? Are you heaven bound or elsewhere bound? Sobering as it is, we have to keep in mind that every action of ours has consequences that either lead us to true happiness with the Lord or exclude that possibil­ity altogether. When it is tough to belong to Him, just remember that every sacrifice made for Him launches us toward our true reward in heaven. Jesus wants you happy with Him forever! Are you living up to the challenge of being His, in name and in fact?

Fr. Paul