ENTER THROUGH THE NARROW GATE
Greeting
The Lord has gathered us here,
however different we may be from one another,
to become one in him and to be a sample
of the unity in variety of the whole Church.
May the one Lord of all unite us
and be always with you.
R/ And with your spirit.
Introduction
We are accustomed to go to Mass on Sundays and we hear the Lord speak his Word to us in the readings of the scriptures. Is that an insurance good enough to make us faithful Christians, to prove that we belong to the Kingdom of God? Outward practices and statements are not enough. We belong there if we try to be good Christians who do their best to live their faith. Jesus’ message and life must become visible in us by the way we love God in our everyday life, and serve him in our neighbour. This is the way, whoever we are, from wherever we come, that Jesus will recognize us as his disciples.
However, everyone likes to go to a house where the doors are always open in welcome. That is how Jesus wants the Church to be: a house of welcome open to anyone. Jesus says of himself that he is the gate or the door. He welcomes all who seek him and even goes out of his way to look for people. But at the same time the door is narrow. We have to make an effort to become like Jesus and to serve and love God and people with him and to live in the spirit of the gospel. With Jesus we now thank the Father, and ask that we too may be open to all.
Penitential Act
We now ask the Lord to forgive us,
for having often honored him more
with our lips than in our hearts and deeds.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, we have eaten and drunk from your table.
We want also to share our food and drink with the needy.
Open the door to us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, we have listened to your word.
We also want to put it into practice.
Open the door to us:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, we will work that everyone
will belong to your people and your kingdom.
Open the door to us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
God, through your merciful kindness
forgive us all our sins
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Who Will Be Saved?
Let us pray
that we may live as we believe
(pause)
God our Father,
you have given us Jesus, your Son,
as the door through which we enter
into your kingdom.
Help us to listen to his voice
and to follow him without reserve.
May our authentic Christian living
bring goodness and joy to this world
and lead us to you, our saving God,
by the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Isaiah 66:18-21): I Will Gather All Nations
The last part of the book of Isaiah ends with a grandiose vision: God will gather all the nations into one holy people. All will be brothers and sisters.
1 Reading: ISAIAH 66:18-21
Thus says the LORD: I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the LORD in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.
Responsorial PSALM 117:1, 2
R. (Mk 16:15) Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. or: R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples! R.
For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever. R.
Second Reading (Hebrews 12:5-7,11-13): God Is a Real Father
God would not be a good Father if he did not correct his children. Our trials serve to train and strengthen us in the faith.
2 Reading: HEBREWS 12:5-7, 11-13
Brothers and sisters, you have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.
Alleluia: JOHN 14:6
Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way, the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father, except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel (Luke 13:22-30): People from East and West Will Enter
To be saved, it is not enough to belong to the people of God. All those who live the life of Christ, from wherever they come, are admitted into the kingdom.
Gospel: Luke 13:22-30
Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from. And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Commentary
Jogging God’s Memory
Isaiah prophesies the restoration of all peoples under one God. The Letter to the Hebrews urges us to view trials and sufferings as God’s corrective. Jesus speaks of entering through the narrow gate.
Jesus says: “I do not know where you come from.” Matthew puts it bluntly: “I never knew you: depart from Me” (cf. Mt 7:21-23). Could these words be directed to us who have celebrated many Eucharists (dining with Christ) read the Bible regularly (listening to him), preached and attended many retreats? How frightening would it be when these words come from God Himself, who has said that He knew us before we were even formed in the womb (cf. Jer 5:1), that He knows us by our name (cf. Is 43:1), and that our names are written in the palm of His hands (cf. Is 49:16)! If our words of faith have not become flesh in us, Christ simply does not see his image and likeness in us. The best way to jog his memory is by walking the narrow way of doing the will of his Father. It guarantees that we are counted as his family, and who fails to recognize one’s siblings (cf. Mt 12:50)?
“Lord, in Your Will is my peace.”
Make an act of faith.
Intercessions
Let us pray that, like God, we may welcome all people into our hearts and homes, and let us say:
R/ Lord, gather all into your kingdom.
– For the Church, that it may never stop proclaiming the gospel to all peoples, languages and cultures, let us pray:
R/ Lord, gather all into your kingdom.
– For the unity of all Christians, that they may not remain enclosed within their particularities and human traditions, but may enrich one another in Christ, let us pray:
R/ Lord, gather all into your kingdom.
– For all those who are discouraged by the pain of trials and sickness, that they may not close their hearts, but learn to grow through their sufferings as human beings and as Christians, let us pray:
R/ Lord, gather all into your kingdom.
– For our Christian communities, that we may be united; that no one may feel a stranger among us, and that we may be open to one another and to all, let us pray:
R/ Lord, gather all into your kingdom.
Lord our God, make us share in your love, may we be open to all people and welcome all in our brother Jesus Christ.
R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
we are gathered here as your people
around the table of your Son.
Do not allow us to exclude anyone
or to look down on even the least
of our brothers and sisters,
whether distant or near.
And may the day come that all,
from the East and the West, from the North and the South,
may come to take their places
at the feast of Jesus your Son,
our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
We thank God for gathering people from everywhere and bringing them into the Church, to be God’s one, holy people.
>>> Note: Use Eucharistic Prayer III, where it is said: “From age to age you gather a people to yourself, so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name.”
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray in the words of Jesus our Lord
that the kingdom of our heavenly Father
may come to all: R/ Our Father…
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us unity and peace.
Save us from our selfishness
and our clannish mentality;
make our thoughts and hearts
as wide as the world,
open to all peoples and cultures.
Let all come to the joyful discovery
of our one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom…
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus our Lord,
who opens the narrow gate of the kingdom
to everyone who seeks him
with a sincere heart.
He invites all to his table.
Happy are we to accept his invitation. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…
Prayer after Communion
Father in heaven,
at the feast meal of your Son
you have strengthened us
with his word and his body.
Convince us so much
of the value of his message and life
as to make our faith contagious.
By our love and service
may we become living messengers
of the hope, the love and the freedom
brought to all the world
by Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
As he sent his apostles,
so our Lord sends us too,
to go out into the whole wide world
to proclaim his Good News,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go and take Christ with us to people.
R/ Thanks be to God.