Taking it Home: The gospel of Luke is for the most part an upbeat and positive gospel. The message of inclusion and that salvation is available for all is heartwarming and welcoming. But there are moments in Luke's gospel that can downright discouraging. Yes, Luke is positive, but he also realistic. Luke lives in a time when the return of Christ was no longer thought of as something immediate. So for Luke faith is something that the disciple needs to persist in. It is not something we should take for granted or assume that we will always have. Instead, faith for the mong haul needs to be lived and practiced with persistence otherwise we will lose it. I think some of this is at the heart of this weekend's gospel and the concept of the narrow gate.
   In the gospel Jesus is on his journey to Jerusalem when someone approaches and asks a question: "Will only a few be saved?" Jesus responds by saying: "Strive to enter the narrow gate, for many I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough." At first blush, this talk of a narrow gate has led some to conclude that, indeed, only a few will be saved. In fact, there has been a whole series of popular books, called the "Left Behind" series, written on this very subject. These books, written by evangelicals, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, have as their premise the idea that only a select few will be saved (none of whom are Catholic by the way). The authors cleverly use gospel passages like today's and then proceed to misinterpret Paul's letters and the Book of Revelation to show how only a select few will be "raptured up" to heaven, while many others will be left behind.
   But this is not the meaning Jesus intends by the narrow gate. Instead, what Jesus means is that, although salvation is available to everyone, much is asked of those who desire it. Yes, salvation is a gift freely made available to everyone, which Luke acknowledges and which our first reading from Isaiah confirms. "I come to gather the nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory."
   Our Jewish ancestors looked upon themselves as a "Chosen People," however, their choosing was to be as a light to the nations and not just a people set apart. And so in the same way our salvation, our gift of faith, must be individually appropriated and lived and practiced if we are to strive to enter through the narrow gate. Faith is not something we take for granted or assume we simply have. We too are to be a light to the nations.
  Accepting and living our salvation as a reality in our lives is a challenge. It is a challenge to all of us who become complacent and self-satisfied and who think that it is good enough to be a Christian in name only. It is a challenge to those who think that simply meeting obligations, being a member and having familiarity with Jesus are all that is necessary for entry. In effect we lowered the bar by equating faith with meeting obligations. These are accomplishments unfortunately, which we can achieve, but are not about basic conversion. For those who think this is all they need, Jesus offers the parable of the master who locks the doors to the banquet, claiming that he does not know where these people are from even though they ate and drank with him and heard him teach in the streets. These, like me and you perhaps every once in a while, are the people who assumed that being familiar with Jesus and having privilege of name were sufficient. But this is not the case. We must get Jesus to know where we are from.
  To know where we are from is to know who we are, a people to whom much has been forgiven and to whom much has been given. We are a people who were lost; lost because of our alienation from God and one another. Our sin separated us from God, each other and even from our very selves. But God pursued us nonetheless, and in God's mercy and love, found us, loved us and granted us the gift of salvation. We can only participate in this kind of love by our surrender to it not by our willing it. Recognizing this gift, we the try to express our thanks by the way we live our lives as Jesus lived his by loving as God loved. This is how we get to know who we are and how Jesus will ultimately get to know us. Entry at this point is not a concern because Jesus never leaves behind those whom he knows and loves.                          

                                                                                                               Deacon John