For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. - Luke 13:30

Jesus went through towns and villages teaching and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?” And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you will stand outside; then you will knock at the door calling: ‘Lord, open to us.’ But he will say to you: ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will say: We ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets! But he will reply: ‘I don’t know where you come from. Away from me all you workers of evil.’ You will weep and grind your teeth when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside. Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last will be the first, and others who were first will be last!”


So what does Jesus mean by the narrow door? What does it take “to enter through the narrow door?” If I want to dine with Jesus in the Kingdom, what are the changes I must make in my life? Do I recognize God’s corrections in my life and receive them with gratitude? Basically, the answer lies in us. We have the choice to either do good or do otherwise. Often, there are Sundays that I don’t feel like going to mass because I feel like I need more rest due to a hectic schedule. There are Sundays that I skip mass and just stay at home. I know I have the choice to either go to mass or just stay at home to relax, watch tv and surf the internet but I chose not to hear mass. Even just for an hour, I couldn’t offer my time to the Lord. What is just an hour for Him than 2 hours or more of leisure time? I really am guilty about this. Nowadays, I find ways to offer time to the Lord even if my body feels tired and my schedule would not permit me to do so. I make sure I find other ways to offer my time to the Lord like attending the Youth Praise and Worship to feed my soul with God’s word. Of course, it would be best if I could attend mass because it is the highest form of prayer. God saves each of us by offering relationship with God to us, inviting us to embrace that relationship and to live it, every single day. And God’s joy is in the relationship, as our joy, too, can be if only we open our hearts to God’s invitation to relationship, and live it as fully as we can!

- Niño Barlis

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