Homily for the Week of August 25, 2013

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: CYCLE C, 2013 Isaiah 66:18-21;Psalm 117:1, 2; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30 You just heard the question put to Jesus by one of the people who came to hear him talk: Lord, will only a few people be saved? These are probably the scariest words in the entire Bible. Within that questions is the fear that many will not be saved--will end up in hell. It is only reasonable that this question has some appeal to Satan and his fellow devils. And so at the annual convention of devils the focus was on the dropping number of persons entering hell. The purpose was to get the devils talking about new and inventive ways to gain people for hell. As good administrators they formed focus groups to discuss and debate ways to trick more souls into hell. Finally, in a formal session, the groups presented their various ideas. A very young devil took the floor first. His group thought that, if they could get more people addicted to social media, those people would lose a sense of relationships. Without a sense of proper relationships, the people would quit caring about everyone but themselves. Those addicted to social media would become the center of their own universe. Satan thought the idea showed promise but said that, as people caught on that they were losing their souls to social media, they would abandon it for real relationships Another group reported that, given the way the world was going, they could convince people that moral values were shifting things. The world was already headed toward abandoning moral values and religious practice, and people were already letting secularism guide them. But Satan also knew from history that a world without values leads to a world with a lot of pain. A world with a lot of pain always went running back to God. The idea would work for a while, but it might not be effective for as long as he hoped. The meeting dragged on, and Satan kept finding some fault with almost every idea for leading more souls to hell. The assembly was becoming restless. Finally, in the back of the convention hall, the second oldest devil in hell rose to speak. The hall grew silent to hear what the old devil had to offer. The old devil said that bringing more people to hell would really be very easy. All the devils would have to do is to whisper into each person’s ear that there was plenty of time in their lives for them to turn to God. The fact is that we are sometimes just too casual about our salvation. We know of Jesus Christ, we hear the sermons, we go to Church more often than not, but concern for God gets only passing attention. There are many options for how to spend our time, and too often spending time on our relationship with God becomes just one of the many. Like talking about losing weight or getting in shape but not dieting or exercising, we talk about developing a deep and abiding relationship with God, yet live as if time is on our side. Two weeks ago, the Gospel told us not to live in fear, but at the same time it also said we do not know when the master of the house will be returning. How will he find us when he returns? It might seem inconceivable, but time is not on our side when it comes to salvation. We presume so much on God’s love, compassion and mercy that it doesn’t occur to us that we let ourselves grow lazy with our faith and religion because of our presumption. Too many times we think, “I’m a good person. I treat people right. I’m not too worried about getting into heaven.” Those of us who have ever thought this way need to hear the words of today’s Gospel again: “Many, I tell you, will try to enter and be unable.” Eventually God will shut the door, and many of us will be caught standing outside. The question put to Jesus was, “Will only a few be saved?” This question had to have been asked by someone who had been faithfully following Jesus and listening closely to Jesus’ ever-more-difficult sayings. While saying that the invitation to live in God’s kingdom is extended to everyone, Jesus also said that the way is narrow and demands more than a casual interest. Jesus demands more than admiration. Jesus demands love. Jesus demands more than being merely good. He demands holiness. Jesus added a further alarming and frightening note. He said that our deepest pain will be to sit in front of a closed door within sight of large numbers of people who have been admitted. Real hell is not fire and flame. Real hell is realizing what was within our grasp that we failed to reach. In answering the question Jesus is not interested in giving population statistics of heaven and hell. Instead he says that every person should do everything possible to make sure that she or he is among the “Saved.” Then he gives us how: Strive to enter through the narrow door. We are saved by our faith, but our faith must be backed by our actions. We still need to try to enter heaven. It is not necessarily a given. Trying is not wishful thinking. It is not a vague hope. It is not something we take care of in our spare time. Trying to enter heaven at the end of our life must be a top priorit of our daily lives. It must be what we seek first above everything else. A person who is trying starts not at the time of death but by living a faith filled life day after day. That means taking time to pray each day, staying focused on our time at Mass, taking care of the needy. We say that God does not want anyone to be lost. This is true. Isaiah says this. The book of Hebrews says this. God does not want any of his children to be left outside, but God cannot force us to walk through the door. He leaves the choice to enter the door up to us. Today let each of us promise to PUT GOD FIRST! We should not listen to the whispers of the devil.