Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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21st Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 26, 2007 - Year: C
Is. 66:18-21; Heb. 12:5-7, 11-13;  Lk 13:22-30
Enter the narrow gate

First Reading...
“Thus says the Lord: ‘For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them.

From them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud - which draw the bow - to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,’ says the Lord, ‘just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.

And I will also take some of them as priests and as Levites,’ says the Lord.” [Is. 66:18-21]

Second Reading...
“And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children - ‘My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.’

Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?

Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” [Heb. 12:5-7, 11-13]  

Gospel Reading...
Jesus said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

When once the owner of the house had gone up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But the Lord will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.

Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’” [Lk. 13:22-30]  

Helpful Life Event:
A few months ago, I read an article in the paper about a college athlete who was training to make the school’s football team. He got up every morning at 5:00 AM to train. He would run and lift weights for 2 hours straight. Then, he would go back to the dorm, shower, eat breakfast and go off to his classes.  

After his classes, he would go back to the athletic facility and work for 3 more hours with his team-mates learning the playbook, running plays, more weights, etc. The next morning, at 5:00 AM, he started the same routine all over again. Obviously, he had very little, if any, social life.  

When the reporter asked him why he followed such a difficult schedule, the young man said, “My only goal right now is to be the best football player I can be and to help my team win a championship. If going to parties, or anything else for that matter, prevents me from accomplishing my goal, then why go? The more I train, the better. You see, sacrifice is the thing”. Who is he? David Beckam.  

In some ways, the story of the stooped woman and the parable of the narrow gate speak about the same thing. The trouble of getting through the door to heaven is a difficult one. The poor woman is a symbol of those who are too despairing to reach up and turn the doorknob; the image of the narrow gate calls to mind those who have so fattened themselves with pride that they cannot squeeze through the doorjamb. Perhaps Jesus was prompted to use this latter image because he was still upset by the prideful protests of the synagogue leaders who complained that the cure of the crippled woman not been done in accordance with their rules.  

In any case, the incident that prompted the image occurred in this way. Jesus had moved on to another town followed by the crowd of disciples and sightseers who accompanied him for some days. As they walked along, suddenly "out of the blue" someone asked that anxious question that has plagued believers ever since: "Lord, will only a few people be saved?"  

No doubt the questioner had been with Jesus for a few days and had witnessed the anger the Lord had shown _ dealing with the scribes and Pharisees, supposedly the best people of society. Perhaps he thought to himself: “if the Lord is displeased with these paragons of virtue, how in the world can he ever be pleased with 'poor slugs' like me? In response Jesus said: 'The gate to heaven is a narrow] gate, so only the 'thin' can enter-those who are not so bloated with themselves that they are unable to squeeze through the opening."  

In curing the stooped woman, Jesus highlighted dangers of the spiritual diseases of earthiness and despair. Here, he spoke about the most serious spiritual illness of all, the sin of pride. It is most serious because the infected ones do not even know that they are sick. The proud pay no attention to the warnings of friends because they don’t think friends have any worthwhile knowledge to commu­nicate. They pay no attention to divine threats because they are firmly convinced that they are the only divinity of any importance. They become trapped in their self-created heaven.  

If a radical earthiness makes us lose interest in anything beyond the bed we have made for ourselves in this life and if despair makes us think that we are not worthy of any­thing beyond that poor bed, pride makes us glory in it. We say: “My bed is my kingdom. There is nothing better in the universe.”  

Jesus made it plain that God has no sympathy for such bloated spirits. He said words like these to the listening crowds: When the proud come to the gate of heaven so “filled with themselves,” God will simply say: “Go away! I do not know you!” And it will be no use for a person to claim: “But God, I walked with your authority and talked in your name throughout my lifetime. Why, I am part of your peer group!”  

God will simply repeat: “Go away! You have done the ultimate evil in your life. You pretended to be ME.”

If you try to force yourself into heaven because you think you deserve it, you will see strangers coming from allover the world-people with strange faces, strange accents, and (perhaps) even stranger lives. They will crowd into heaven instead of you because their humble search for God through a lifetime has made them small enough to get through the narrow door. Then you will finally under­stand that those who seemed to you to be last are really first, and that you who have pretended to be first shall be forever last, separated far from me for all eternity.

With that, Jesus moved on to another town.  

What can I say now? All left to you. Just think about your life, how comfortable it is. But when you work hard, everything comes on your way. That is the secret of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, enter the narrow gate, means that we do our best with our time, talents, opportunities and live a life full of avenues. If you want to lament, you will never stop doing it. It will continue the same as you began.  

Let us not forget the helpful words from the letter to the Hebrews: “And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children - ‘My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.’  

Today more than ever laxity has entered our society. We need things that are easy to use, less time and with less effort. People want homes and flats close to the School, Clinic, market, hospital, Church etc. Reason, all things should be accessible to them to get things done as early and quickly as possible. Then they buy expensive machines to exercise their bodies, because when everything is so close they need to exercise their bodies. There comes the problem with their health. Expensive flats, expensive gadgets, and expensive machines. All these things are used to keep our life comfortable and easy. Well, what shall we say? Is this entering the narrow gate?  

At the moment just before our death, I doubt very much if any of us will look back on our lives and wish that we spent more hours at the office or made more money or played another round of game. I do think, however, that we’ll look back on our lives and wish that we had spent more time with our families and loved ones, more time helping other people. You see, then, on our deathbeds, we’ll realize that there is only one thing in life that really counts. And, it’s not whether, in life, we acquired a prize pearl or a rare treasure or won a sports championship. The only thing that will truly matter is what we have become, what we are in God’s eyes, while we travelled our paths through life.  

Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. Therefore, strive to enter through the narrow door.

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