Surely we would never hear: "I do not know where you are from" at the end of our lives. Surely we would never find the door to Heaven locked leaving ourselves on the outside saying: "Lord, open the door for us." Surely we would not be cast off from the presence of God with the words: "depart from me all you evil doers." Luke's Gospel instructs us that the gate towards salvation is narrow and therefore not all will be strong enough to enter. Many of us have lived our lives without reflecting upon this narrow gate. We have instead widened this gate beyond its true reality. We have lied to ourselves to the point that everything is okay inside the world and therefore we should change nothing about ourselves. We have allowed ourselves to believe that the Church has no wisdom to share and therefore have allowed truth to be cut away from our lives in order that we may model our faith after what works for us and for our families. The world has been allowed to triumph over the Church because Heaven is for everyone.
Heaven is indeed for everyone! We are all called to enter into Heaven and to share within the joys found therein. We are called to persevere in our faith always remodeling ourselves after the truth. We are all called to encounter and to trust inside of the infinite mercy of God. The gate is indeed narrow, not that we may be cast off, but to the reality that we must remain strong enough to enter. To enter through this gate requires us to be strong because we have to persevere each day in our faith keeping ourselves from taking the large gate which comes so easily. When we glance upon the cross we see how hard it truly was for our salvation to be won for us. Christ's crucifixion upon the cross did not come easily, but instead was a tough path that was taken. Through the wounds of Christ we see our invitation to be totally liberated from sin and our many excuses that plague our lives. With the cross we are able to join that we may be strengthened in order to pass through the narrow gate and truly become known by Christ.
None of us here should be okay with gambling our relationship with God away. God's love dwells with us always, but it is through our disorder where we turn ourselves away from God's love. Despite our sinfulness and greed this love always remains, but we must desire in our hearts to prevail ourselves to it. Those who find themselves outside the door had many opportunities in their life to return to this mercy, but they never desired to do so. With their contentment with sin God is forced to say "depart from me, all you evil doers." No matter how much we think that Heaven is the only state in life we must remember that the Church still professes that Hell is real. Even inside of our Gospel we see the effects of Hell which comes with the separation of ourselves from God. At the end of time there is indeed only two states which will last forever, Heaven and Hell. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that Heaven is the only reality, but we should also not live in fear because Heaven is achievable if we truly desire it.
Saint Paul spoke to the Hebrews that their paths could be made straight through the use of discipline inside their lives. In this letter he drew an analogy between the discipline that a child endures for their own good and the discipline that we as a believer in Christ must endure. Having to endure discipline inside of our lives never comes easily, but from discipline comes our ability to truly be able to run the race of faith that lies before us. We cannot grow close to Christ and remain strong inside of the faith if we are never willing to discipline ourselves on behalf of the faith. We must be willing to cast off all that holds us back from our relationship with God. In disciplining our lives we will be forced to admit that we need to confront change in order to truly be able to follow after the Gospel. With discipline moving us forward inside of our lives we will be able to pass through the narrow gate and hear Christ proclaim "well done my good and faithful servant."
From the Prophet Isaiah we know that God already knows our works and our thoughts. Therefore we cannot fool God with our intentions because they are already known. Instead we should embrace our lives where we currently find them and elevate ourselves towards God. The faith that we share is real and requires constant endurance instead of the attitude that God will conform the truth in order to meet our own needs. If we want God conform to ourselves, a mere creature, we will be left outside the gate crying: "Lord, open the door for us." Instead we must enter into the discipline of the faith and prepare our bodies and souls to be raised entirely to God. What are the things that we hold onto within in this life that are dangerous for the well being of our souls? What ways have we desired God to conform to our own needs instead of allowing ourselves to be conformed to the truth? How can we continue to challenge ourselves in this life that we may be disciplined to the faith? Christ wants each of us to be strengthened that we may enter through the narrow gate.
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