Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us what his disciples are to do: go through the narrow gate. What does that mean? Looking at the previous sentences in this passage, Jesus tells us to revere what is holy and to treat others as we would want to be treated. Basically, love God and love our neighbors. If you’ve been to Mass and heard the Gospel and other readings every Sunday, this might not come as a surprise.
However, when we think of our society today, how often do we truly see and notice one another? How often do we think about God throughout the day? Unfortunately, it is easier than we realize to ignore both people and God in our everyday lives. To take the wide gate and broad road is to keep to ourselves and our inner circles, much like in the time of today’s First Reading, when it seemed more advantageous to worship the gods of the surrounding nations rather than the God of Israel.
However, that is not our call as disciples. In my travels, I have encountered narrow roads: up a mountain near Lake Tahoe, up another mountain to visit a family friend in the Philippines, on the way to a funeral in rural India where the road was only partly paved, over a moving river in Texas, and even walking across a narrow pedestrian bridge in Northern Ireland with a 100-foot drop into the Atlantic Ocean. Traversing all of these places required alertness and awareness of others. It involved working together with those traveling in the opposite direction so that everyone could get where they needed to go. Sometimes the road was unpaved and there was a steep drop below, requiring faith in God for safety. In the case of the pedestrian bridge, I had to be mindful of my distance from others, and we all had to move in the same direction. If anything, having people around me was comforting and kept my mind off the distance below.
In a way, perhaps this is what it means to go through the narrow gate. Not many choose to travel through it, but those who do have hearts that are wide open to God and to other people.
—Sr. Emily Sandoval, FMI