Fitting through the Narrow gate

Whenever you watch something like Britain’s got talent or the X factor there is always that moment at the end of the show that you get the sad music the camera pans into a face that looks as if they have been through the mill and back and our heart strings are pulled. They usually have had some great struggle and hardship. You immediately know one thing: They will be good. They in a sense have gone through the narrow gate of their own lives. Through struggling and hardships they have come out the other end a lot better person than before because of the struggle. 

We see in today’s gospel that we are asked to enter through the narrow gate. Jesus knows that following him will be difficult with many hardships and that is why only a few will be saved. We are asked often not to take the easy way but to take the hard way. Think for a moment how hard it is for us to keep our Lenten penance and how many times we find it difficult to love those who we do not like or do not like us. And yet it is through these encounters and disciplines that we get to know our selves better and also the person of Christ. It is through those things that we find hard and difficult that we get to see the real self.

But, it is not only with ourselves that we find this difficult. Think for a moment about the last phrase of the Gospel today “The first shall be last and the last shall be first”    I once saw a wonderful cartoon of two Christians standing at the door way. Both were saying “No after you” behind them was a long queue and someone razing their eye bows says “Those Christians again” What Jesus is saying here is that we need to think about the other person. That part of being a Christian is about putting the other first. But like this cartoon I discovered it’s not about being passive and with false humility. It’s about recognizing the need and doing something about it. It’s about being counter cultural.

Sometimes it is an easy option to take the easy path not to engage too much with message of Christ. We create a safe bubble around us. We hide behind the rules and don’t engage either with culture or with the gospel. This is both dangerous and also a blinked view. We are asked by Vatican II to engage with the signs of the time. We are asked to put others first over our own needs, but also to look after our own spiritual development. We are asked to show that we are Christians in our work places, our homes and with ourselves and this means accepting the cross and hardship.