Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
It has sometimes troubled me to hear that the gate that leads to eternal life is narrow and the way that leads to destruction is very broad. On the surface this is one of Jesus’ harsher sayings and not necessarily something I would quote if I were attempting to present Jesus to someone for the first time. Yet reading the first and second readings together as they are linked for us today reveals a very positive message that can be uplifting for us Christians today as we go about our daily lives.
One theme of the scripture readings today is God’s gifts to us and the need for us to respond to these gifts through faith. Abraham is praised at several points in the Bible for having faith, while Lot is ultimately portrayed as being faithless. The promise that God makes to Abraham is that he will bless Abraham by making his descendents as numerous as the dust of the earth and he will give them land as far as the eye can see (Genesis 13: 14-17). Notable in its absence is a similar promise of blessing to Lot. What makes the difference here between Lot and Abraham? It is their respective faithfulness, in the case of Abraham, or faithlessness and turning away from God in the case of Lot.
God’s promise to provide for and bless Abraham’s offspring and their descendents is an example of grace. Another word for grace is blessing or gift. Elsewhere in the Bible, we see that faith is a gift, but it is a gift that must be accepted willingly by the person receiving it. Abraham accepts this gift and Lot does not. There are other examples of contrasting pairs in the Bible where one member of the pair accepts God’s blessing and the other ultimately does not—for instance, Isaac and Esau; and David and Saul. In addition there are many positive examples of those who have accepted grace with a willing and joyful heart. Notable among these is Our Lady’s joyful acceptance of God’s plan for her life and the outpouring of this joy in the Magnificat.
The gospel mentions the difficulty of the narrow road and contrasts it with the broad way. Yet Jesus also says a little later on in the gospel of Matthew: “my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11: 30). So it is not you and I who are the primary source of our own faith. Nor are we responsible for saving ourselves. Instead, our faith and the expression of it in our thoughts, words, and deeds is a result of God working through us. What we are called to do is to accept the gift that God gives us to love and serve God and one another.
We have an opportunity today to follow Jesus’ command to enter by the narrow gate. Let us take this opportunity, and in doing so to follow in the footsteps of Abraham and the other holy men and women who have gone before us in the faith.
- Joel Schickel