TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Au=
gust
26, 2007
Thus says the Lord: “I come to gather nations of=
every
language; they shall come and see my glory.” The Jews were convinced that they =
were
the only good and upright people who would be saved by God. They were the sons and daughters of
Abraham to whom the promise of salvation was made.
In the first reading the prop=
het
Jeremiah tells them that the Lord is not only the God of Israel,=
but of
all people. He loves all peop=
le
without distinction of race or tribe.
He makes it clear to them that God will gather every nation and every
language; He will send them as missionaries to bring salvation to the whole
world; He will choose his priests even among the pagans.<=
/p>
This message of Jeremiah is a
clear indication that God calls everybody to salvation. He does not make any distinction.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We are all invited to the heavenly
banquet. We are invited to be=
come
citizens in the Kingdom
of God.<=
/span>
Jesus, in the Gospel, tells us
how we can enter into God’s Kingdom.=
The condition is only one:
“Try your best to enter by the narrow gate.” This means that any disciple of Je=
sus
must belittle himself, become a servant of all and God will consider him the
greatest.
Nobody can claim the right to=
be
saved; we shall be saved depending on how much we belittled ourselves and
served God and our neighbors. It is
not enough to be baptized and have one’s name recorded in the parish
books. We must practice
a religion of life, not a religion of words. It is not enough to know the exist=
ence
of God, the commandments and all the teachings of the church. Our faith must be lived.
In the parable of the Gospel,
those who were locked outside knew Jesus. They had once listened to him. Th=
ey
took meals in his company. Bu=
t,
Jesus calls them wicked and sends them away. The reason is,=
that they did not belittle themselves to live the Gospel message and thus f=
it
into the narrow door.
We ask the Lord to give us the
grace to get rid of all vices that make us so big and so large that we can =
not
fit into the narrow gate.
&=
nbsp;
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nbsp;
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