CLIMBING

Luke 13:22-30

""strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough…"

The word for "striving" is the word from which we derive "agony".  The struggle to enter into the narrow gate is intense, an intense agony not unlike Jesus' own agony in the garden, "Let this cup pass but be your will not mine."

We can never just sit back as if the goal was achieved.  The christian way can be liken to those who died on Mount Everest.  It was reported that when they were last seen, they were "going strong for the top."  Or as was described by the head stone of an Alpine guide, "he died climbing."

For the Christian, life is always upward and onward.

Pope Benedict has this to say about the Narrow Gate: "everybody has an equal chance to enter through the narrow gate but it is demanding, it requires commitment, self-denial, and mortification of one's own egoism…Christ invites all to heaven but with one requirement, that we take up our cross and follow him by dedicating our life to the service of our brothers.  True friendship with Christ is expressed by one's way of life:goodness, humility, meekness, mercy, love of justice and truth…"