Daily Retreat 06/27/06

2006 Jun 27 Tue: Ordinary Weekday/ Cyril of Alexandria, bp, dr
2 Kgs 19: 9b-11. 14-21. 31-35a. 36/ Ps 47(48): 2-3ab. 3cd-4. 10-11/ Mt 7: 6. 12-14

 

From today’s readings:  “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth....  O God, we ponder Your mercy within Your temple....  Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction....”

 

The Narrow Gate

 

When Jesus spoke of the wide gate and broad road that leads to perdition, He was warning against the sin of presumption, which is the mistaken notion that one’s salvation is already basically assured.  Interestingly enough, this age is the only era in Christian history for which the popular unquestioned assumption is simply that, “when you die, you go to Heaven” (except, perhaps, if you were a serial killer or other particularly heinous criminal). 

 

While Christ’s Gospel is overflowing with the message of Christian comfort, the Gospel is likewise replete with pointed warnings, and it’s a sign of counterfeit Christianity to only focus on the one or the other aspect.  There have been times in the past when certain segments of Christianity focused too much on “fire and brimstone” and neglected the “Good News,” which is the literal meaning of the word “Gospel.”  But today, the tendency is to ignore even what Jesus Himself preached about fire and brimstone, and what He warned about the wide gate and broad road that leads to destruction.

 

The Golden Rule, the admonition to enter through the narrow gate, the whole Sermon on the Mount and indeed, all of Christ’s teachings insist on the urgency of choosing the Way of the Lord Jesus with our entire lives and helping others choose it as well! There’s no room for the deadly presumption that most people (and surely ourselves!) are already saved and will go to Heaven, for as Jesus points out, “How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few!”