By Kielce Gussie
During his Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV reflects on the image of the “narrow door” in the Gospel, which Jesus used as a way to respond to someone who asks if only a few people will be saved.
Don’t be overconfident
The Pope points out that this image might raise the question: “if God is the Father of love and mercy, always waiting with open arms to welcome us, why does Jesus say that the door to salvation is narrow?”
He argues God is not trying to discourage us. Rather, He is challenging those who are over-confident and think they are already saved – “those who practice religion and therefore believe they are in good standing.”
These people, Pope Leo continues, do not truly understand that a person’s heart cannot be transformed solely by religious acts. God is not looking for people who live a life separate from worship. He does not want people to make sacrifices or offer prayers if they do not lead us to loving our brothers and sisters and to practicing justice.
For this reason, the Pope stresses, when people who live these separate lives stand before the Lord “boasting that they ate and drank with Him and listened to His teachings,” He will turn them away.
The path of the “narrow door”
Sunday’s Gospel offers a challenging yet beautiful message: “While we may sometimes judge those who are far from faith, Jesus challenges the ‘certainty of believers.’” It is not enough to simply profess our beliefs through words, go to Mass, or know Christian teachings by heart.
The faith only becomes authentic when it becomes part of our entire lives – “when it becomes the foundation of our choices, when it leads us to be men and women committed to doing good and willing to take risks in love, just as Jesus did.”
Just as Jesus did not take the easy path, we too must make choices that are challenging or unpopular, “fighting against our selfishness, giving ourselves for the sake of others, and persevering in doing good even when the logic of evil seems to prevail.”
Though it will be difficult, if we choose that path, the Pope says we will find a new life, enter into God’s open heart and discover the joy of the Heaven.
Let us call upon Mary, Pope Leo concludes, to help us “courageously pass through the “narrow door” of the Gospel, so that we may open ourselves with joy to the vastness of God the Father’s love.” – Vatican News
