DAILY- HOMILY

"Will only a few be saved?" someone in the crowd asks Jesus. Jesus doesn't answer this question. Instead he advises, "Try your best to enter by the narrow door." As though he were saying, "Don't speculate on how many will be saved. What matters is that each one should exert effort to be included among the saved. Each one will be judged on his own efforts."

Out, therefore, goes all elitism. `I'm a son of Abraham . . .
I'm a disciple of Jesus . . . Therefore I'm among the
saved.' `No way,' says Jesus.

What will prevent us from getting through the narrow door? A marvelous Peanuts comic strip offers us a suggestion. Charlie Brown wants to go skiing. He's frustrated, staring at the open door. He's so heavily wrapped up in warm clothing that he can't fit through the door. He's shouting in frustration: "How am I going to get through the door?"

If Charlie Brown would only strip himself of some of the warm garments he's wearing, he he'd have no trouble getting through the door.

We're like Charlie Brown. We tend to get wrapped up in lots of things in this life which we do not need or which are positively harmful for us. Strip them off. Get rid of them.

Admiral Richard Byrd, an American explorer, once commented, "Half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing how little we need." Maybe we could add, `the other half of the world's confusion comes from our failure to recognize what is harmful to us.'

PRAYER

"Lord, help me to always trust in your saving grace, especially when I am tempted and put to the test. Help me to be faithful to you and give me the courage and strength to resist temptation, especially the temptation to compromise or to be indifferent to your word."