Today's Gospel

The Gate the Culture Hates

I'm Matthew Kelly. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of Jesus, the genius of the Gospels, the genius of Catholicism. By looking at each day's Gospel and listening for a word or a phrase or an idea that jumps out at you so that you can anchor your day in the gospel. Today's reading is from Matthew 7:6,12-14. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. For this is the law and the prophets. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

So we've got a really short reading here today, but we got a lot of powerful stuff. Jesus comes straight out of the gates. Do not give dogs what is holy and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot. And not just trample them underfoot, but then turn and attack you. I think somewhere in all of this that the idea of no good deed will go unpunished sort of comes from this. Sometimes you try to do good things for people, but they not only trample on the good things you try to do for them, but they turn and attack you. Maybe that jumped out at you. What jumped out at me is the narrow gate. It's the narrow gate. Enter by the narrow gate. Our culture hates the narrow gate. What does Jesus say? The gate that is wide and the way that is easy leads to destruction. That's the gate that our culture wants us to walk through. That's the road our culture wants us to walk. The gate that is wide and the way that is easy leads to destruction.

The thing I've always reflected on here is the narrow path, the narrow gate. Excellence in anything requires that we walk the narrow path. Look at any aspect of your life. You cannot be successful in any aspect of your life unless. You choose the narrow path, okay? You can't be successful in your personal finances if you choose the easy path and the path that is wide. It definitely leads to destruction. You can't be successful in your career, in your marriage, in your health and well-being, in your parenting, in your friendship, in anything. You can't be successful in anything unless you choose the narrow path. And we all know people who choose the narrow path in one aspect of their life. And we see their tremendous success and we see their extraordinary excellence in that aspect of their life, and that should be an inspiration to us. What aspect of your life is God challenging you to take the narrow path today? In your spirituality, yes. But God's interested in the whole person. What other aspect of your life is God challenging you to walk the narrow path today? Have an amazing day and remember, don't listen to culture. Don't just be yourself. Be the very best version of yourself, all that God created you to be.