THE NARROW DOOR LEADING TO SALVATION
Our meditation today has the theme: Narrow Door to Salvation. We need to distinguish gifts from prizes. One particular difference says that a prize is given at a certain time and is limited to the person selected who deserves it. While gifts, such as salvation, are given to everyone and they are from God since the beginning of human life, throughout his life on earth and until the eternal life that is obtained after death.
The gift of salvation for us implies a process of becoming. While a prize, for example someone won the prize of a new motorbike, is something that has become a result obtained and celebrated in joy. Salvation as a process needs to begin from the starting point, namely God the Almighty who takes the first initiative to call. It should begin with God and will be accomplished in the person called: from birth to death that leads to eternal life with God.
As a process of becoming and to be in the form that the Lord wants, Jesus teaches us today about salvation is not an automatic event to be achieved. It does not happen immediately nor as a free gift. He describes a journey that will reach its end which is salvation and perfection in the Lord. This is like going through a narrow door. Let’s imagine for a moment. There is a large four-lane road that allows drivers to freely and smoothly pass through it without difficulty. When it has still several kilometers to arrive at the last stop, the road narrows to a single lane. How difficult and so annoyed the drivers and their passengers are to face this road situation!
Jesus wants to give us awareness about the difficult process in order to be saved and enter the glory of heaven. The main and only requirement is to be perfect like the Father in heaven who is perfect forever. This is the ticket to pay off that narrow door. To be perfect, we need to meet the conditions that Jesus himself set for us to fulfill with responsibility. The conditions are all complete in Jesus, for He Himself states that: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14,6).
Saint Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome reflects on the teaching of the Lord Jesus by asserting that for those who are called to realize perfection, they are in God's plan, they go through all the processes until they become perfect as God wants them to be.
Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O Jesus, teach us to always walk in Your ways and in Your truth. Hail Mary full of grace ... In the name of the Father...
