August 23: Preparing to Celebrate Sunday’s Mass / Preparándonos para Celebrar la Misa Dominical

The best prelude to (or preparation for) this weekend’s Mass is a passage from St. John’s Gospel: “Thus says the Lord, ‘I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.’”

So, how might this prepare us? Jesus says in this Sunday’s Gospel  (Luke 13, 22-30): “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” He is the gate! He is the door! And the door to heaven, through which all of us are invited to pass opens to whom? To those whose lives mirror the self-giving life and love of Christ. It opens to all who have learned in this life to serve and nourish their neighbor – in the same fashion that He did.

***

Prayerfully ponder this before coming to church this weekend: the narrow gate is, indeed, Jesus. His assurance is that we will enter heaven through our relationship with Him. We will enter into His Kingdom through lives lived sincerely in love and justice, such that we will immediately recognize Him not only as the gate to eternal life, but also as the perfect mirror of all that is good and true in our own lives, precisely so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

***

En la Misa del domingo, Jesús nos va a decir: “"Esfuércense en entrar por la puerta, que es angosta, pues yo les aseguro que muchos tratarán de entrar y no podrán.” (Lucas 13, 22-30) 

Para entender correctamente la invitación a “entrar por la puerta angosta” hemos de recordar las palabras de Jesús que podemos leer en el Evangelio de San Juan: “Yo soy la puerta; si uno entra por mí será salvo.” (Juan 10,9)  Por eso, entrar por la puerta estrecha es “seguir a Jesús,” aprender a vivir como Él, tomar su Cruz, y confiar en el Padre que lo ha Resucitado.

En este seguimiento a Jesús, no todo vale, no todo da igual; hemos de responder al amor de Padre con fidelidad. Lo que Jesús pide no es rigorismo legalista, sino amor radical a Dios y a los demás. Por eso, su llamada es fuente de exigencia, pero no de angustia. Jesucristo es una puerta siempre abierta. Nadie la puede cerrar … sólo nosotros si nos cerramos a su gracia, a su perdón, y a su Vida.