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| "Strive to enter through the narrow door" |
The letter to the Hebrews alludes to the age-old question, why do bad things happen to good people? Of course, there’s no satisfactory answer to human suffering and natural disasters. Yet hardships can help us realize our true selves as sons and daughters of God our Father. Inescapable suffering, accepted with trust in an all-good God and joined to the sufferings of Jesus, can be saving and healing for ourselves and others. And why do I say that? Because the sufferings of Jesus were precisely that--saving and healing for all.
In the Gospel, disciples ask, “Will only a few people be saved?” Jesus indicates that many who think themselves respectable or high and mighty may not be first in line for the kingdom of God. And many who are considered down and out will be the first included. God's ways are not ours.
Salvation is ultimately a gift from God. Jesus says that we have to struggle to enter through the symbolic “narrow gate” into the kingdom of God. Many times in life, we can only go through by letting go of our fears and doubts, and by realizing that God is with us as we open these doors into an uncertain future. Our faith in particular can sustain us, because it helps us overcome these fears and doubts, because it satisfies our basic needs. How is that?
Our faith fosters a healthy self-image . We are made in the image and likeness of God, and through baptism, God lives within us, and we live within God. And people with a positive, healthy self-image generally engage in constructive behavior.
Faith satisfies our longing for happiness. Within every human, being there is a subconscious quest for the ultimate, the all-good. St. Augustine wrote, “O God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Our primary purpose is to live in a right relationship with God and one another. In heaven, we will see God face-to-face.
Third, our faith gives us a sense of belonging. We are a community of believers, linked by a common bond of faith, grace, and baptism. We gather regularly to offer God gratitude and worship. These encounters with the triune God are wrapped up in the mystery of the sacraments.
We are a community not only of heroes and heroines but also of sinners and scoundrels. But Jesus assures us that God’s mercy outweighs our failures. God gave us the sacraments of initiation, healing and service, grace and power to help us through these times.
Finally, our Catholic faith provides us with a guide in the Bible, with the best news ever: how God offers each one of us salvation through Jesus, who is the gate to eternal life. The risen Christ is present in these scriptures proclaimed in our liturgies.
Yes, as we go through life, our faith will sustain us so we may eventually enter safely that final gate into our eternal home with God.
