August 24, 2025.
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,… They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.” (Luke 13, 22-30)
Christ spoke, in this week’s Gospel, of the narrow door, and he urges us to cross it, to go through it. That door is the one of love. A love that at times consists in living in chastity, other times of obeying, others in being austere faced with temptations of consumerism, others in forgiving, others in putting up with humiliation in silence, others in speaking loud and clear to defend the innocent. Love has a thousand facets, each one for the appropriate moment, in this way if you are silent when you should speak up, you offend love. Well then, love is the narrow and difficult door we must cross to follow and imitate Christ and as such, enter with Him the Kingdom of God.
But this isn’t enough. This week’s word of life suggests something more it invites us to more. It asks us to be the first to love, that we don’t wait for others to do things, that we speak up to defend those who suffer injustice or that we help with charity to those who are hungry. We must do it not with arrogance but for thankfulness. If Christ needs us – and he needs us in the sacristy and in our fellow man – we can’t be deferring the answer; however we must run to give him what he expects from us. It is not about pride but about thankfulness. Besides, frequently it is verified that when someone realizes that something must be some they don’t do it, and it stays undone. If we don’t take the first step, it is quite possible that no one does and that that which had to be done stays undone, with everyone paying the consequences.
Intention: When we realize something must be done, do it without waiting for someone else to do it. To love is lucky and only going through the door for love will we enter heaven.