Reading 1
Is 66:18-21
Thus says the LORD:
I know their works and their thoughts,
and I come to gather nations of every language;
they shall come and see my glory.
I will set a sign among them;
from them I will send fugitives to the nations:
to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan,
to the distant coastlands
that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory;
and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.
They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations
as an offering to the LORD,
on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries,
to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD,
just as the Israelites bring their offering
to the house of the LORD in clean vessels.
Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.
Reading 2
Heb 12:5-7, 11-13
Brothers and sisters,
You have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children:
“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when reproved by him;
for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;
he scourges every son he acknowledges.”
Endure your trials as “discipline”;
God treats you as sons.
For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?
At the time,
all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain,
yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who are trained by it.
So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.
Gospel
Lk 13:22-30
Jesus passed through towns and villages,
teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him,
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?”
He answered them,
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter
but will not be strong enough.
After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door,
then will you stand outside knocking and saying,
‘Lord, open the door for us.’
He will say to you in reply,
‘I do not know where you are from.
And you will say,
‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’
Then he will say to you,
‘I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!’
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.
And people will come from the east and the west
and from the north and the south
and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.
For behold, some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.”
Meditation: Luke 13:22-30
“Lord, will only a few people be saved?” (Luke 13:23)
What a direct, difficult question! And Jesus gave a direct, challenging answer: “Many … will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough” (Luke 13:24). Evidently, salvation is not a foregone conclusion! It’s something we have to take seriously, something we have to be sure we have taken hold of by faith every day.
St. Augustine said that God created us without our help but he will not save us without our help. While Jesus’ death and resurrection have brought about our redemption, we still have a role to play in letting that redemption penetrate our hearts and minds.
So how seriously do you take the promise of eternal life? Does it rank above or below the latest sale? Is it more important than spending all of Sunday watching football or baseball? Nothing is wrong with these things, of course. The question is whether we have put Jesus first in our lives and are taking the time to let him minister to us every day.
St. Paul once wrote: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). The creed that we recite every Sunday at Mass is our statement of faith. So we can trust that salvation is ours as we “confess” this creed and as we place our faith and trust in the truths that this creed announces.
Taking eternal life for granted is a scary proposition. If salvation really is a foregone conclusion, then all is well and we have nothing to worry about. But if this assumption is incorrect, then the stakes are high. This is why we need to make it a point every day to make our own personal confession of faith based on the truths in the creed. It’s also why we need to ask the Holy Spirit to open our hearts to these truths every day so that we can place our faith in them more and more.
“Jesus, I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that you are Lord and Savior.”
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