XXI Sunday in OT:[C]:Is66:18-21,Heb12: 5-7,11-13;Lk13: 22-30

XXI Sunday in OT:[C]:Is66:18-21,Heb12: 5-7,11-13;Lk13: 22-30

Introduction:  As he continues his fateful journey to Jerusalem, Jesus answers the question as to how many will be saved by answering four presumed questions: Who will be saved? How? Why? When?

Exegesis: When the questioner asked Jesus “How many will be saved?” he was assuming that the salvation of God's Chosen People was virtually guaranteed, provided they kept the Law. In other words, the kingdom of God was reserved for the Jews alone, and Gentiles would be shut out.  The Jewish catechism, Mishnah, taught: “All Israelites have a share in the world to come.” But the author of the Apocalypse of Ezra declared, “this age the Most High has made for the many, but the age to come for a few” (4 Ezra 8:1). Hence, Jesus' answer must have come as a shock. Jesus affirms that God wants all persons to enjoy eternal life with Him. But he stresses the need for constant fidelity and vigilance throughout our lives. Thus, Jesus reminds us that, even though God wants all of us to be saved, we all need to work at it. Entry into God’s kingdom is not automatically granted, based purely on religious faith or nationality, so we cannot presume on God’s mercy and do nothing by way of response to God’s invitation.

Anecdote:  Thousands upon thousands of young boys grow up bouncing basketballs and dreaming of a life in the National Basketball Association - the professional ranks. But only a handful is chosen each year. Woe to the young man or young woman who is talented at sports but neglects his or her education! Thousands upon thousands of new businesses are started each year, but only a small number of people in our society become super-successful in material terms. The higher you go up the scale, the smaller the numbers become. Thousands upon thousands of young couples each year stand at the altars of churches and pledge their love to one another, but life becomes harder and marriages will end in divorce. Many couples will stay together only for convenience, for appearances or for the children. The door to any kind of successful living is a narrow one. That is why Jesus reminds us in today’s gospel: "Strive to enter by the narrow door, for many I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." Successful living requires making hard choices. It requires dedication and sacrifice. How can Christian faith demand any less?

Event: Imagine it’s a Post Thanksgiving Day Sale [Sales Promotion Day] and you have been wanting a new piece of technical equipment for your computer and Best Buy [Shop] is having a sale on it.  Not only that - you have a good friend who works for Best Buy/Shop and may be able to get you an even better deal.  The store opens at 5 am.  You could line up with the many other people at 4 am, but you decide that you have had a full Thanksgiving day[day of celebration] and sleep is important and so you roll over and show up at 7 am.  There is still a line, so you have to wait a bit, but finally you get to the door. Suddenly as you are about to go through the door, finally, you are told that they are sold out and that there aren’t any more.  You see your good friend, but he has no choice but to bolt the door and put up the SOLD OUT sign. You say to your good friend – couldn’t you just squeeze me in, but he shakes his head sadly, and walks away.  We need to work hard for our choices to happen through.

Joke:   It seems that there was a little old church out in the countryside: painted white and with a high steeple.

One Sunday, the pastor noticed that his church needed painting. He checked out the Sunday ads and found a paint sale. The next day, he went into town and bought a gallon of white paint. He went back out to the church and began the job.

He got done with the first side. It was looking great. But he noticed he had already used a half gallon. He didn't want to run back in town and being the creative person that he was, he found a gallon of thinner in the shed out back, and began to thin his paint.

It worked out great. He finished the remaining three sides with that last half gallon of paint.

That night, it rained: it rained hard. The next morning when he stepped outside of the parsonage to admire his work, he saw that the first side was looking great, but that the paint on the other three sides had washed away.

The pastor looked up in sky in anguish and cried out, "What shall I do?"

A voice came back from the heavens saying, "Repaint, and thin no more!"

Practical Applications:  1) We should be rejoicing that Jesus has saved us all, but not get self-satisfied in our daily lives. 

2) We need to discipline ourselves, use the things that happen to us to help us grow, rather than get us down. We need to remember that the tested people, the people with the most problems, the last people, may be the ones who get in the door first.

3) And most of all, we need to remember to repent, to turn around, to look at what we are doing.  Those are the people that will easily slip through the narrow door.

Introduction:  XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time

Message:  No one is to be excluded from the kingdom for all peoples are called to proclaim the praises of the Lord and confess his holy name.  No ethnic or religious group possesses exclusive rights to the kingdom.  Suffering and pain are part of the human condition.

Saints and Events in this Week: Twenty Seventh (27)-Tuesday- Saint Monica; Twenty Eighth (28)-Wednesday-Saint Augustine, bishop, doctor of the Church; Twenty Ninth (29)-Thursday-The passion of Saint John the Baptist;