English Homily

We heard how someone from the crowed asked Him: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Evidently Christ’s teaching had struck people deeply.
 
It is a simple and at the same time very difficult question: “Will I be saved?”  The one who asked Jesus had put himself, evidently, among the saved ones.

Jesus awakes him to reality" "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." (Lk 13:24.)

The question, as we see, focuses on the number  “How many will be saved? Will it be many or few?” In answering the question, Jesus shifts the focus from "how many" to "how" to be saved, that is, by entering "through the narrow gate."

Jesus' way of responding to these questions is not strange or discourteous. He is just acting in the way of one who wants to teach his disciples how to move from a life of curiosity to one of true wisdom.

What puts us on the road to salvation is not a title of ownership ("We ate and drank in your presence..."), but a personal decision, followed by a consistent way of life.

It seams as if there are many doors to happiness, many different options. Jesus advices us to choose the narrow gate because the other doors are leading nowhere.

The “narrow door” is the way of Christ Jesus, and its narrowness implies difficulty and effort. In a different context Jesus proclaimed “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.”(Mt.11,12)

The Greek verb used in both contexts is “agonizzo” from which comes the English “agony”. I clear reminder to the last hours of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane to fulfill his mission.

This is not the fight of few heroes who try to attain to paradise, but our effort to surrender to God’s will, as Jesus did in His agony: “Father, not mine, but your will be done!”

It is the fight to surrender, to take a leap into the unknown, through faith.

Jesus is also reminding us how, at a certain moment. “the door will be locked” After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, and then will you stand outside knocking and saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.' He will say to you in reply, 'I do not know where you are from.'

With our death the door is locked for us and we will no longer be able to choose. We are reminded that to be baptized, to have our names of the baptismal Records is not enough: “And you will say, 'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.' Then he will say to you, 'I do not know where (you) are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers

We shall say: “How, Lord? I spent the whole life looking and searching for you and now you drive us away? And where can we go?

We were told: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

We tend to be schizophrenic, to live lives that are inconsistent with our beliefs. What a sad realization should we come at the end of our lives to realize that we were wrong, that we wasted our time, and our energies.

Christ awakes us to reality, but, at the same time, He also consoles us: “And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.”

How consoling is it to know that what is impossible to us, poor human beings. is possible to God. What a joy to realize that God is always at work for our good. It is consoling to know that the Kingdom of God does not coincide with the bounders of our churches.

We should learn to rejoice at the much goodness present in peoples and in the world at large.

Looking at our poor life-performance we should learn to keep our souls in Hell, since our sinfulness is under our eyes to see, and not despair since we rely not on our merits but on God’s mercy. We will be so busy to accuse ourselves and striking our breasts that we will not have time to strike other people’s breasts nor accuse them of any misbehavior. We shall gain an healthy humility.

In this way we shall enter through that door and attain happiness, not because we are good, but because the one who called us is good.

From here our humble prayer: “Do not close your door o Lord, even if I have arrived late. Don’t look your door because I have come to knock. In your kind mercy, Lord, open to those who come to you, the only door, and with tears and humility ask you to be opened. Let us hear, o Lord, your kind words:” Today you will be with me in paradise” Amen