21^st Sunday in Ordinary time:

Isaiah 66:18-21 Ps 117  Heb 12:5-7,11-13 Luke 13:22-30

Little Johnny came home from school as a typical 2^nd grader. His hair was tousled. His shirt tails hanging out of his pants. He was covered with dust from kicking the ball in the soccer field. He said to his mother, “mum who am I?” – playing up to his game, his mother said, “Little Boy, I do not know who you are!” Johnny jumped up and down in delight, “My teacher is right, she said, I am so dirty, that even my mother would not know who I am”

2.  So who are we? Would our God know us, if we showed up at the pearly gates this morning? The readings of the liturgy from the 14^th Sunday till the Sunday of next week, all deal with the things we posses and how they define us, our lives and our destiny. Jesus would say, “where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” Today we look at what we possess, with regard to the question the question: “Who will be saved?”  It fits in very well, with the feast of last week: The Assumption of Mary into heaven, body and soul.

Will I go to heaven or hell? For our youngsters, today, there is no fear of going to hell.  Many of them just do not believe in either heaven or hell. In contrast – those who were born in the 1940s and 50s and before, - “Will I be saved or not?” is a fearful reality.  The question is real because of our “Catholic guilt” What if I forgot to confess this sin or that.

How often, this question is posed to me when I visit people in hospital or in seniors’ homes.

3.  Our first reading seeks to dispel this fear, this anxiety –even though it is not in the context of death. The reading is taken from the very last chapter of the book of the Prophet of Isaiah. The people of Israel are in captivity. The Israelites are having difficulties adjusting to life after their exile in Babylon. Isaiah’s task is to encourage them for the journey ahead. It is not a prediction of the future. It is simply a vision. It is a call to unity, a call to trust because God will keep his promises.

As we try to answer the question of the Apostles in the Gospel: “Will only a few be saved”  - we hear the same call to unity, a call to trust. It is a call to unity with the Communion of Saints, that we profess when we say the Creed. We are called to trust like the Saints who have gone before us with the sign of peace. God made the promise to the people of Israel. God makes the promise to us through the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

4.   But the question still remains: What must I do to be saved? If only a few will be saved, will I be one of them? It brings to mind the floods in Pakistan. Food and tents were brought to those who were affected by the floods. But these were not sufficient. Only a few would get that help. Every family that stood in a queue wondered: Would I be the lucky one?

In the first place Jesus dispels the notion that there are insufficient number of places in heaven, or that it will be reserved for only a few. Heaven is opened for all, Jesus tells us. People will come from the East and West – and they definitely will find a place for them. They do not have to come like the refugees on a boat from Sri Lanka. They do not have to live in fear for three months. The people in the boat did not know whether they would accepted or rejected. Isn’t it ironic, that if and when admitted, these refugees would look on Canada as a heaven! Will only a few be saved?

5.  In the prayer of the last supper, in the Gospel of John, Jesus told his Apostles “in my father’s house there are many mansions, and I go ahead to prepare a place for you.” In the case of the people of Israel coming home after the exile, God kept the promises. Now, Jesus would keep the promises he made to the apostles and through them to each of us.

Jesus tells us concretely what we should do “to be saved”.

In the first place Jesus shakes our complaisance.  He tells us that just being in his presence does not give us a free pass to enter. The people said: “We ate and drank with you. You taught in our streets.” That was not enough. Today we say: we have been to Sunday Mass. We have said our rosary and recited the Divine Mercy devotions. That is not enough. So have we wasted our time? Not by any means! All these make us more aware that Eternal life is a free gift given by God – and these devotions and prayers keep us open to receive the gift of Eternal life.

In the second place, Jesus tells us that we have to enter through the narrow gate. In our world, the people of prominence and fame go through the broad door with its red carpet.  The narrow gate is for those who are insignificant, for those who do not count in this world.

People of prominence are defined by the things they possess and the prestige they have. People think that as a priest I have an inner track to heaven, that I have God’s unlisted phone number. Ironically the privilege and prestige that the priest enjoys keeps him from the people across the street that need his help. These are the one who enter through the narrow gate.

They do not have the baggage of

-possessions and the need for material security

-the need for praise and to be affirmed by others

-selfishness which makes us turn a blind eye to the injustices done to those around us.

-violence, which makes us resort to war instead of peaceful means of living.

6.  What really defines me as a priest and all of us as Christians, is the way we walk and journey with the struggles of those around us: both Christians and non-Christians alike. This eventually answers the question: “Will only a few be saved” –

We sing that song, they will know we are Christians by our love:

We will walk with each other, we will walk side by side

We will save each man’s dignity, we will save each one’s pride.

Our real possession, our real treasure as Christians is the person of Jesus Christ. It is not in our possessions, but in our relationship with the Lord that our question “Will we be saved” becomes a statement:

In God I trust. God is my salvation.

As the Coca Cola ad would say: “Who could ask for anything more.”