Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

 In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges the disciples to make a choice: believe in him as God’s holy One: And so, what do the disciples do? Some walked away. Others stayed; they said to Jesus, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Eternal life is ultimately a gift from God, not something we earn. But Jesus counsels that we have to struggle to enter the narrow gate into the kingdom of God.

Many times, we can only get through the narrow paths of life by letting go of fears and doubts, by realizing that God is with us. Our faith can sustain us. How is that?

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. With a positive, healthy self-image, people generally engage in constructive behaviors.

Also, faith satisfies our longing for happiness. We are forever seeking the transcendent, someone or something that gives purpose to our lives. Within every human being there is a subconscious quest for the ultimate, the all-good. Our primary purpose is to be in relationship with God and one another forever. In that relationship, our yearnings for happiness are fulfilled.

And our faith gives us a sense of belonging. We are a community of believers who go back two thousand years, with heroes and heroines who inspire us, saints who encourage us in our pursuit of God and God’s pursuit of us. We are linked together by a common faith in Jesus Christ.

We gather to thank God for our lives, to acknowledge our absolute dependency upon God as our Creator and to ask God Our Father to satisfy our basic needs. These encounters with the triune God are wrapped up in the mystery of the sacraments.

 We are a community not only of heroes but also of sinners. We must continually ask for God's forgiveness and rebuild this community of living stones.

Jesus assures us that God’s mercy outweighs our sins. God in particular gives us sacraments of healing, service, and grace to help us through our lives. And God also gives us each other for support and protection.

Finally, God provides us with a guide, the Bible, with the best news ever: how God offers each of us salvation through Jesus. The Bible demonstrates God’s love and forgiveness. The risen Christ is present in the Word of God proclaimed in our liturgies. God speaks and we listen; we speak and God listens.

 As we go through the occasional storms and challenges of life, we pray to embrace faith in Jesus Christ. That faith will sustain us so we can eventually enter safely through that final gate into the kingdom of God. Amen!