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Responsibility
and Knowledge
August
25/26, 2007
Luke
13:22-30
Fr.
George Smiga
There
are two images in today's gospel, and neither one of them
is particularly encouraging. First there is the image of the
narrow gate. Jesus says that to enter the kingdom we must
enter through the narrow gate. Second, there is the image
of the closed door. Jesus warns us to be careful lest we be
locked out. Now how do these two images apply to our lives?
They both point to an essential need. The narrow gate points
to the need of personal responsibility, and the closed door
points to the need for adequate knowledge.
The
Church of the Nativity was built in Bethlehem during the Middle
Ages over the site where people believe that Christ was born.
It is not a particularly attractive church. It appears more
like a fortress than a house of worship. Its stone is rough.
Its proportions are uneven. Perhaps the most notable thing
about the church is its doorway. It is very small, only about
three feet wide and four feet high. The crusaders who built
this church designed the doorway in that fashion because they
wanted to assure that who ever would come to visit the place
where Jesus was born, would have to make an individual and
conscious choice to enter and at the same time would be forced
to bow as they came into the holy place.
The
small door of the Church of the Nativity, like the narrow
gate in today's gospel, reminds us that if we are going to
enter into the presence of the holy, if we are going to enter
into the kingdom of God , we must do so with a conscious and
purposeful choice. We cannot stroll into the kingdom unaware.
We cannot walk in as part of a large group of people, holding
onto someone else's coat tails. We cannot enter into the kingdom
on someone else's merit. One day, each one of us will have
to stand before the Lord and give an accounting for the lives
that we have lived, for the decisions that we made, for the
opportunities that we missed, for the gifts that we used and
the gifts that we squandered. It will be our life on the line.
No one else can answer for it. We must assume personal responsibility.
This is why Jesus says that those who enter will enter by
the narrow gate.
Jesus
also warns us about the closed door. This image reveals the
need for adequate knowledge. Those in the gospel who are shut
out are surprised, because they thought they knew what was
required to enter into the kingdom of God . They were mistaken.
They presumed that because they ate and drank in Jesus' presence,
that certainly they would be welcomed into the kingdom. They
were wrong. They did not have sufficient knowledge of what
was required of them, and more was required than they expected.
Because of that lack of knowledge, they found themselves on
the wrong side of the closed door.
So
these two images in the gospel remind us that each one must
claim personal responsibility for our entry into the kingdom.
We must also have adequate knowledge of what that responsibility
entails. So how do we assure that we have this sufficient
knowledge? By committing ourselves to grow in our faith. Faith
formation is a life-long process. At every stage of our life,
we face new challenges, new decisions, new possibilities.
It is important that we have sufficient knowledge of our faith
to guide us along each of those steps of our lives. We all
agree that children need to learn about their faith. But adults
need to learn as well. Do we really think that what we learned
in the fourth grade is sufficient for the adult challenges
in our lives? Growing in our faith is a life-long process.
Now
there is a commercial in today's homily and here it comes.
Several years ago, we initiated in our parish the Gift Program,
an inner-generational effort of faith formation for the entire
parish. This week you received information in the mail about
this year's Gift Program. As you know, Gift is for everyone.
It is for children and adults, for the young and the old,
for those married and single. Whoever is a part of the parish
is welcome to Gift, because growing in our faith is for everyone.
We have installed a new bulletin board between the narthex
and the banquet center that outlines the eight sessions of
Gift this year. Each one of them addresses a particular aspect
of our faith in a way that is age appropriate to both adults
and children. I believe that the topics for Gift are relevant.
There is one this year about Islam, one about deepening your
prayer at mass, one about living with difficult people, one
about understanding the Trinity. Not only does Gift deepen
your knowledge of the faith but it does so in an atmosphere
where we can grow as a community. Now I think you could benefit
to participate in all eight of the Gift sessions but I ask
you to target at least one or two of these sessions as ways
to grow in your own faith. Please consider doing that.
Of
course, the important thing is that you do grow in your faith.
That can happen in ways other than Gift. But Gift is one simple
and accessible way that you can assure that you have sufficient
knowledge of the faith which we treasure. And that is important,
because having such knowledge is for each one of us a personal
responsibility.
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