There
was once a young Catholic man who was walking along a city street.
He went to Mass every Sunday and said his prayers every night. But
while he was faithful and not at all ashamed of his faith, he didn’t
really feel comfortable talking to others about it. He didn’t feel
qualified to answer questions about Catholicism if people asked and
if anyone challenged him on something, he didn’t know how to
respond. So he didn’t normally talk much about it. He did,
however, wear a simple cross on a chain around his neck.
As
I was saying, he was walking along the street when he happened along
a barbershop. Realizing that he could use a haircut and seeing that
the shop had no costumers, he stepped inside. As he sat down in one
of the chairs and the barber put the cape to cover his clothes, the
barber noticed his cross.
“Oh!
Are you a Christian?” he asked. The young man didn’t want to
get into a big discussion of course, but he wasn’t about to lie
either. “Yes. I’m Catholic”, he said. “Oh,” the barber
said, and he began getting to work on the man’s hair. The young
man thought he had dodged a bullet on the whole religious topic, but
then the barber brought it up again. “Since you’re Christian, I
wanted to ask you what you thought about something. See, I don’t
think that God exists.” The young man didn’t know what to say
about this, so he simply looked at the reflection of the barber in
the mirror. The barber continued, “I can step outside my shop here
and I can look to my left and look to my right, at people going up
and down the street, and I can see many people who are sad and lonely
and are sick or hurt. If there really is a God, why does He allow
such bad things to happen? Why doesn’t He come down and make all
these things right?” The young man knew that this was ridiculous.
Of course God exists! But as he sat there, he couldn’t think of an
explanation. He simply shrugged his shoulders and looked away.
“I’ve asked that to many different Christians who have come into
my shop”, the barber said. “None of them have been able to
answer me. I don’t think God exists.”
The
barber finished up his work. When he was done, the young man got up,
paid him and walked out the door without saying another word.
Outside the shop, he stopped and thought awhile. He looked to his
left and then he looked to his right and thought some more. Then he
turned on his heels and walked back into the shop. The barber looked
up from sweeping, surprised to see the young man returning. “You
know what?” the young man said, “I have something I want to talk
to you about. I don’t think barbers exist”. “What do you mean
we don’t exist?!” the barber exclaimed. “I’m standing right
here!” The young man replied, “But I can walk outside your shop
and I can look to my left and look to my right, at people going up
and down the street, and I can see many people who have long shaggy
hair and men in desperate need of a shave. If there really are
barbers, why don’t they make sure all these people have a nice
haircut and clean shave?” “But this is ridiculous!” the barber
said. “I can’t just go out and force everyone to have a haircut.
They have to come to me first and ask me to help them!”
“Exactly!” said the young man. And then he walked back out.
I
bring up this story, because I think for many people the Gospel today
about the narrow gate is problematic. Many Christians have adopted
this popular idea that God is going to let everybody into Heaven, no
matter what they may have said or done after acknowledging who God
is. So when we have Jesus saying that many will try to enter but
will not be strong enough and that they will outside, knocking at the
door, but God won’t let them in, it’s a hard pill for us to
swallow. Much like the atheist barber from the story I just told, we
wonder, “Hey! If God is all powerful and all loving, why doesn’t
He do something about this? Why doesn’t He just make everything
alright?
The
real problem is not that God isn’t doing His job or is actively
working against us. The real problem is that we don’t always
respond to His invitation. God is able to invite us: He invites us
to enter through the narrow gate, He invites us to turn to Him when
we need His help; but unless we respond to that invitation, there is
literally nothing else that God can do. He cannot force Himself into
our lives, even if it would be for our benefit.
Not
long after we made the switch to the new translation of the Roman
Missal a woman told me that she was bothered by one of the changes.
You may recall that during the words of consecration with the chalice
the words were changed from “It will be shed for you and for all”
to “It will be poured out for you and for many”. The woman’s
point was clear: didn’t Christ shed His blood for everybody? Yes
He did. But not everybody is going to respond to that offer of
salvation. The new translation more closely matches what Jesus said
in Scripture. Jesus wasn’t trying to deny that everyone will be
offered salvation; everyone will
be offered
salvation. The sad reality is that some won’t accept it, but many
will.
It
is important that we understand that God is not in this to deny
people access to Heaven. Nor is the Church trying to do anything of
the sort. He is not up in Heaven watching us saying, “Oh you just
missed it! If you would have said one more rosary you would have
made it”. He wants as many people as possible to make it. Let’s
look a little closer at the way the conversation in the Gospel goes.
Someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
Notice the Jesus never directly confirms nor denies that statement.
First He points out that many will try to enter but will be left
outside the locked door. Again these are not some poor souls that
are being held back by God. These are people who chose other things
above God and were not working that hard at serving God. Now they’re
scrambling to get in. Then Jesus goes on to talk about how “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.” Compare this to
what we heard from the Prophet Isaiah in the first reading. “I
come to gather nations of every language”, and “they shall
proclaim my glory among the nations.” Those four directions that
Jesus lists represent where all those nations that Isaiah talks about
are coming from. God isn’t looking for a small group of a few
people to come be with Him in Heaven. He wants great many people to
come; as many as He can get!
Do
not be afraid, brothers and sisters, that God is forsaking us and
leaving us high and dry. He wants us with Him and He wants to help
us. Respond to His invitation, ask for His help. Let us strive for
that narrow gate!
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