While they were on their way to Jerusalem, someone asked Him, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" 1 Jesus did not answer him directly, but instead told him, "Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter and will not be able to." And in today's Gospel for Mass, Saint Matthew has left us this exclamation from the Lord: "How narrow is the gate, and how strait is the way that leads to life, and how few there are who find it!" 2
Life is like a path that ends in God, a short path. Above all, what matters is that, upon arrival, the door is opened to us and we are able to enter: "We journey as pilgrims toward the consummation of human history. The Lord says: 'Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to give to each one according to his works...' (Rev 22:12-13)." 3
Two paths, two attitudes in life. To seek what is most comfortable and pleasant, to indulge the body, and to flee from sacrifice and penance; or, to seek the will of God even if it costs us, keeping our senses guarded and our bodies under control. To live as pilgrims who carry only what is necessary and tarry little with things because they are just passing through, or to remain anchored in comfort, pleasure, or temporal goods, using them as ends rather than simple means.
One path leads to Heaven; the other, to perdition, and there are many who walk along it. We must frequently ask ourselves which path we are walking on and where we are going. Are we heading straight for Heaven, even if there is no shortage of defeats and weaknesses? Is it the narrow path we are walking on? Do we habitually live temperance and mortification—small sacrifices, small but real? Where are we going? What is truly the purpose of our actions?
"If we look at things not as pure theory, but with reference to life, perhaps it will be possible to understand it better. If a university student wants to be a doctor, they do not enroll in Romance Philology... In reality, if a student enrolls in Romance Philology, they are demonstrating that what they truly want is to be a philologist, not a doctor, regardless of what they might say (...). And this is so because when you want something, you must choose the appropriate means (...). If someone wants to go to their own home and deliberately chooses the path that leads to their enemy's house, what they undoubtedly want is to go where they claim they do not wish to go." 4
And if they gave the reason that they chose that particular path because it is more comfortable, then what truly matters to them is the path, not the end to which it leads.
Many live chasing immediate goals without orienting their lives toward the ultimate end, God, who must determine everything. But let us not forget that, to achieve this, "each day a little more—just like carving stone or wood—we must file down the rough edges, removing defects from our personal lives with a spirit of penance and small mortifications (...)." 5
HCD