Our site uses cookies to improve the user experience and we recommend accepting its use to take full advantage of the navigation

I agree
More information

Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Rom 8:26-30): Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will. We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified.
Responsorial Psalm: 12
R/. My hope, o Lord, is in your mercy.
Look, answer me, o Lord, my God! Give light to my eyes that I may not sleep in death lest my enemy say, «I have overcome him»; lest my foes rejoice at my downfall.

Though I trusted in your mercy, let my heart rejoice in your salvation; let me sing of the Lord, «He has been good to me».
Versicle before the Gospel (2Thess 2:14): Alleluia. God has called us through the Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Lk 13:22-30): Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate”

Fr. Lluís RAVENTÓS i Artés (Tarragona, Spain)

Today, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus pauses for a moment, and someone takes the opportunity to ask Him: "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" (Lk 13:23). Perhaps that man felt uneasy upon hearing Jesus. Of course, what Jesus teaches is wonderful and appealing, but the demands it entails are not quite to his liking. But what if he were to live the Gospel on his own terms—with an "à la carte morality"? What chance would he have of being saved?

So, he asks: "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" Jesus does not accept this framing of the question. Salvation is too serious a matter to be resolved by calculating probabilities. God does not wish “that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pt 3:9).

Jesus replies: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’” (Lk 13:24-25). How can they be sheep of His flock if they neither follow the Good Shepherd nor accept the Magisterium of the Church? "Depart from me, all you evildoers! And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth" (Lk 13:27-28).

Neither Jesus nor the Church fears that the image of God the Father might be tarnished by revealing the mystery of hell. As the Catechism of the Church states, "The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion" (no. 1036).

Let’s stop “trying to be too clever” and being calculating. Let’s strive to enter through the narrow gate, starting over as many times as necessary, trusting in His mercy. "All that, which worries you for the moment," says Saint Josemaría, "is of relative importance. What is of absolute importance is that you be happy, that you be saved."

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “O hidden Jesus, Love eternal, You who are our life, O Divine Madman, for You have forgotten Yourself and see only us. Why is it that so few people know you? Why is your Love not requited? O Love Divine why do You conceal Your beauty?" (Saint Faustyna Kowalska)

  • “The passage to eternal life is open to all, but it is ‘narrow’ because it is demanding: it requires commitment, self-denial and the mortification of one's selfishness.” (Benedict XVI)

  • “The affirmations of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church on the subject of hell are a call to the responsibility incumbent upon man to make use of his freedom in view of his eternal destiny. They are at the same time an urgent call to conversion.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 1036)

Get it free every day Subscribe

October 11th
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Gospel and commentary video