Fr Frank writes:
My dear friends,
Our Gospel reading today is about membership of the Kingdom of God. Note that there is no automatic membership, no guarantee of admittance.
Someone wants to know how many will be saved. Jesus tells him it is a waste of time to speculate. What we need to be doing is focussing our aim on the narrow door: we should be concerned about the quality of our own lives – our morality, how we live out the Faith. The door is narrow (Jesus tells us) and it’s not open indefinitely. We must be careful, and we mustn’t leave things too late.
There are many qualities that will lead us to the ‘narrow door’, but our second reading today gives us some useful pointers. We need to struggle and suffer for the cause of truth, justice and love. We will face trials, and to overcome these we need discipline. Discipline is conceded by some as a rather old fashioned virtue, and many may wrongly see it as something imposed from outside. True discipline is just as relevant today, and it comes from within.
If we have problems with “Discipline” then we have problems with “Disciple” because they are both from the same root. The one who is disciplined is the true disciple and it is this one who will find the narrow door.
May our good, generous and loving God bless you today and always.
Frank ofs
Sunday Smile:
A baptismal service was in progress in an Anglican church. During the course of his sermon the minister looked down at the water in the font and said, “There is nothing magical about this water, it is the same water that we shall use to make the coffee with later.”