PATH, GATE, DOOR

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 12^th Tuesday  in  Ordinary Time is, “Path, Gate, Door.” 

We’re moving along through the Sermon on the Mount - here in the Gospel of Matthew - these days. Are any sayings of Jesus grabbing you? 

I see that Father Joe  Krastel is going to offer a Bible Study program in the fall on Hebrews - one of the books of the Bible. He’s done a series of talks on Hebrews in the past. Now he wants to do a follow up. The Archbishop of Baltimore sent all the priests of this diocese a neat Bible commentary on Hebrews. Using that, Father Joe is going to do Hebrews II for us. The best way of learning has always been teaching.

I would add that if anyone offers a series of talks on the Sermon on the Mount.  go for it. Such programs and offerings can help one’s spirituality.

WHEN IT COMES TO SPIRITUALITY

Surveys on parish life - indicate that people are looking for two themes: Spirituality and the Bible.

When it comes to spirituality, people indicate that they want to grow spiritually. 

When it comes to a desire for a deeper inner life, a better religious life, folks use the word spirituality.

I spent 9 years of my life teaching spirituality to future Redemptorists.

Having taught spirituality I found out that a key teaching is that the spiritual teacher says there are choices.

This is what Jesus did: he taught about the choice to build your house on rock or on sand. He taught about being a good tree - producing good fruit - compared to being a rotten tree producing rotten fruit. Be good seed. Produce 30, 60 100fold.

Yesterday’s gospel talked about choosing a wide ruler when measuring people compared to how I see myself.  Jesus said to stop seeing specks in your brother or sister’s eye - and missing the big bad beams in our own eye.

Today Jesus - here in the Sermon on the Mount - talks about the choice of two gates and two roads.

I like this approach - using images that we can see - when it comes to choosing a healthy spirituality.

The title of my homily is 3 images: path, gate, and door.

Picture yourself standing at  a fork in the road. You take the narrow path - as Robert Frost said he did. You don’t take the wide road - that everyone takes - and that choice has made all the differences in our life.

The path, the TAO that is narrow leads to life not death.

The choice is ours: life or death - niceness or nastiness.

Following Jesus images, we then come to a gate or door.

CONCLUSION

Once more, enter the gate or knock on the door called Jesus and enter into life.