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From Archbishop Donoghue
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Mass for singles |
Tuesday of the 12th Week of the year Dear Friends in Christ, “How narrow the gate…how rough the road.” We have heard, and we will hear these words many times during our life. And perhaps the first thing that strikes us about these phrases our Lord chooses to describe life, is that here is a man who understands fully what it is to be a human being. Here is a man who can sigh, and admit the limitations of being as we are - who can be resigned and accept, in the way that we are resigned and accept, the ups and downs, the uphill battles, the narrow escapes, and the often hard-to-bear difficulties that life makes us face, and especially, a life formed by the Gospel. We look about us, and many times are intrigued by, if not actually tempted by the casual and self-centered life-styles of so many people today. And if you are reasonably smart, and industrious, then in today’s world you can get most anything you want, just as you can go mot anyplace that your heart desires. The ways are wide, the means rich and prolific, and if earthly satisfaction be your goal, there are many waiting, waiting for the chance to help you get what you want, and to take their cut of your good fortune. This is the way many in our society view life - this is the way many in our society get along. But when we grow into wisdom - when we become attuned and receptive to the grace that is ours by Baptism and Confirmation - then we become increasingly aware, that things worth having, are worth suffering for -and more important, things worth having, are also worth getting from the right place, no matter the cost, the distance, or the degree of pain that it takes to get there. We are what Christ calls “holy” and He compares us to pearls - it is our souls that we are not to feed to the dogs - it is the beautiful traits of our character, which are the pearls, which we are not to cast into the pen with swine. These are strong words of our Lord - dis-inclusive we might call them - nowhere in the Gospel is He more blunt, and growing up, growing old, and growing wise, in a way can be measured by just how much we come to respect and obey these strong injunctions of our Lord. But another grace of maturity, of becoming more aware of how we belong to the Lord, and of how we stand in relationship to the dogs and to the swine, is to increasingly put behind us, the regrets or melancholy we previously emphasized in the words of our Lord - that the road is rough, and the gate narrow. For the grace of spiritual maturity, or another way of saying it, the grace of approaching every day, just a little closer to our ultimate walk with God, is also the grace of thanksgiving that there is a road - that there is a gate - rough, smooth, narrow, wide, or anything else. Christ’s words, though compassionate and understanding of human weakness and striving, are first and most importantly, beacons of hope - for what He is saying to us, is that there is a way over the rough road of earthly life, and a gate to get beyond the narrowness of human experience, and if we will just keep our feet moving, and our eyes on the goal ahead, then the journey will end happily, and we will pass through the Gate, into the peace which lies beyond. Dear friends, the road is the Church - the Church as we are here tonight, pulled up for a short rest together, and gathered for one strong and shared purpose - to look ahead and see the gate, the gate who is Jesus Christ, and who opens the way before us, by giving to us His Body to eat, His blood to drink. May we all approach this gate worthily, by the many paths that the Church provides for us to gain spiritual purity - the paths of prayer, of meditation, of good works, and of Penance and Absolution. And may we each be granted, in the way God has intended, the vision of our Lord and Savior, the waiting Gate - for if we keep our hearts and wills aimed at His countenance, then we will never be pulled from the straight and narrow path of our unfolding salvation. + |