Sunday, August 25, 2013
21st Sunday
in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Is 66:18-21
Responsorial Psalm:
Ps 117:1, 2
Second Reading:
Heb 12:5-7, 11-13
Gospel Reading:
Lk 13:22-30
Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, 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. 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!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out…”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Instead of coming up with an estimate when asked about how many will be saved, Jesus said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate…” This answer shifted the focus from quantity to quality. It was as though Jesus was saying that for as long as people try their best, salvation is available. But here is the catch: not all those who strive will qualify, for to some of them the Lord will say: “I do not know where you are from.” This is not about one’s place of origin but about one’s theory of salvation. The only valid theory of salvation is the theory of love under which one loves God by loving the neighbor.
Surely God does not recognize the theory of duplicity under which a person gets involved in a lot of rituals available in his religion but despises his fellowmen. The following anecdote illustrates why a person operating from a life of duplicity irritates God. A man in a devil costume entered the wrong hall at a convention center and found himself before a shocked assembly of old women in the middle of a Eucharistic celebration. They scampered away thinking that the devil was for real. One woman who was trapped in a corner pleaded with the ‘devil’, saying, “Please don’t harm me; you know where my heart is!”
If like God you too can read hearts, you wouldn’t feel less betrayed by this kind of lover. Surely you will also disown this kind of person.
Striving hard to enter the narrow gate does not put salvation at the discretion of zealous human beings. Salvation is still within God’s discretion. We only need to strive hard and leave the rest to God. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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