Daily Gospel Reflection

The Secret of the Narrow Path

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we'll listen to the gospel of the day, connect ourselves to the life of the church, looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea that the Holy Spirit uses to capture our attention. So we can live the gospel more fully today. A reading today comes from the Gospel of Luke 13: 22-30. Jesus went on his way through towns and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And he said to them, "Strive to enter by the narrow door. For many, I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door saying, 'Lord, open to us,' and He will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me all you workers of inequity. There you will weep and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourself thrust out. And men will come from east and west, from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God and behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.'"

Such a rich, so much in this reading. The narrow path, Jesus calls us to the narrow path. It's true in anything, right? If you want to be successful in anything, it requires the narrow path. If you want to be successful in your personal finances, there's a narrow path. If you want to be successful in your marriage, there's a narrow path. If you want to be successful in your health and well-being, there's a narrow path. If you want to be successful in your studies, there's a narrow path. And the narrow path is a path of discipline, right? The wide path is a path of there's no discipline there. There's just do whatever you want. And that path doesn't lead to success in anything. And the same is true of the spiritual life. It's the narrow path that bears fruit. It's the narrow path that leads to where God is calling us. That's very powerful in the beginning.

And then the reading goes on and Jesus says, "You're going to be outside. You're going to be knocking and nobody's going to answer." We've been working our way through Luke, especially chapters 12 and 13, and there's a lot of talk about the kingdom of God. And there's a lot of talk about who's going to be in the Kingdom of God and who's going to not be in the Kingdom of God. And what I thought about today as I was reading this, it's where are you right now? Are we in the kingdom of God right now? Or are we outside the kingdom of God? Are we in the kingdom of God, participating in the kingdom of God, trying actively, proactively to connect with God and His people? Or are we sort of neglecting the kingdom of God? Because I think that at any moment, we can do a heart check. We can do a soul check and say, "Okay, do I feel like I'm living in the kingdom of God right now? Or do I feel like I'm living outside the kingdom of God right now?" And if it's the latter, what can we do today to step into live in the kingdom of God? Here and now. God's kingdom on earth. He has a kingdom on earth. He has a kingdom in heaven. We want to be living in both. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.