Homily for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

A few days ago the GCSE results came out – some were disappointed, others

were glad, and there were those who were over the moon. No doubt in many

cases a lot of preparation went into them. There always will be those who are

naturally gifted and find at least certain subjects easy, but not everyone has that

advantage. One of my memories of GCSE exams concerns the Maths papers.

They were numbered something like Paper 4 and Paper 6. We went into the

examining room to take what was supposed to be the easier of the two papers

first, and it was rock solid! It was one of those exams that got you a bit worried

and probably left you with a literal headache. I remember someone saying

afterwards, “Well, that was easy!” in a way that indicated the exact opposite.

Some of us were thinking: if that’s the easy paper, what will the next one be

like? But thankfully, that year they had swapped them round, so the next paper

was a lot easier.

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to

enter and will not be able.” How much “revision” have we done for our

heavenly exams? I’m not saying that there will be a test on the Catechism to

get into heaven, but there will be a judgement that we have to face. I’m glad

that with the new translation of the Scriptures we’re using now, the message is

more meaty and less watery. Previously, Christ just said “Try your best”,

which can sound a bit like, put some effort in, but don’t try too hard. Try your

best, but if you don’t make it, it doesn’t matter. Now, instead, it says “Strive”,

which the dictionary explains means to try hard, or even to fight. In other

words, it’s not a walk in the park.

So Our Lord makes the point that there will be those who don’t make it to

heaven. Their excuses won’t hold water. If they waste their lives just doing

what is easy, going with the flow, if they listen to Him, but don’t put any of it

into practise, they can’t expect to walk through a wide open door into heaven.

At this point, we need to watch ourselves that we don’t take two extremes:

presumption, or despair. Presumption comes in two forms. The first is where

you think that you are fine, there’s nothing wrong with me, I don’t need help

from God, because I’m a good person. I don’t need to repent of my sins

because I don’t have any. Or if I do, they’re only small, so I don’t need God’s

help. I can earn my own way into heaven by the other good things I have

done. That’s the first type of presumption.

The second type is where we do recognise that we are sinners. We have done

wrong. But because God is merciful and will forgive, I don’t need to worry. I

can continue just as I am, with no need to change, and God will just forgive me

and let me into heaven. Do you see how subtle and dangerous it is? We use

God’s mercy as an insurance policy. I don’t need to change my life because

God will forgive me anyway. How can we say we love God if we intend to

carry on offending Him?

Now the other extreme: despair. This is where we recognise that we have done

something serious, but then think we can’t be forgiven. I won’t ask God to

forgive me, because He won’t. So I’ll continue to live my life on earth, and

when everyone else gets to heaven, they’ll wonder where I am. But there’s no

forgiveness for me. What I’ve done is too big, too bad. I’ll just put on a brave

face for now, but I deserve what’s coming to me and there’s nothing I can do

about it. That is wrong as well.

The correct mid-way between these two extremes is to recognise that we are

sinners. That we have done wrong. We are truly sorry, and want to put things

right. Now when it comes to big things, we will never do them again. For

smaller faults, bad habits and so on, we resolve to correct ourselves, but the

reality is, we will at some point fall again. But that just reminds us that we

need Christ to save us. We can’t do it by ourselves.

How many will be saved? There isn’t an exact number or quota. It depends on

how you live your life. And we can’t always expect to know who will be

saved, and who won’t. “And behold, some are last who will be first, and some

are first who will be last.” Rather than wondering who may or may not be

there, we need to look at ourselves. Christ has given us the syllabus to revise.

How carefully have we looked at it? Have we skipped over Section 2,

paragraph f because it didn’t look very exciting or it might be difficult?

Usually a good teacher can help us prepare well for an exam. The good thing is

that God is merciful, and if we don’t try and play games, if we are genuine, if

we strive to stay close to the Lord, we will be properly trained to enter through

that narrow door. It may be that when we get there we can’t walk through – it’s

too narrow. But the Lord has shown us that if we breathe in and turn sideways,

we can come and join the party.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk