Will We All Be Saved?

« Sunday, August 25 »

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 123

Il-Wiehed u Ghoxrin Hadd taz-Zmien ta’ Matul is-Sena

Reading 1    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.

QARI I    mill-Ktieb tal-Profeta Isaija Is 66, 18-21

Dan jghid il-Mulej: “Ghad nigi nigbor il-gnus kollha, u l-popli ta’ kull ilsien; dawn jigu u jaraw is-sebh tieghi. Jiena ngholli ghalihom sinjal, u nibghat lil xi whud mill-fdal ta’ Izrael ghand il-gnus, f’Tarsis, Put, Lud, u Mesek, Ros, Tubal u Gawan, u lejn ix-xtut imbieghda li qatt ma semghu bija, u qatt ma raw is-sebh tieghi, u huma jxandru s-sebh tieghi qalb il-gnus. U jgibu lil hutkom kollha minn kull gens, bhala offerta lill-Mulej; igibuhom fuq zwiemel u karrijiet, fuq suggetti u bghula u igmla, ghal fuq il-muntanja qaddisa tieghi, f’Gerusalemm, jghid il-Mulej: bhalma wlied Izrael igibu l-offerti tal-qmuh taghhom f’garar indaf fit-tempju tal-Mulej. U lil xi whud minnhom nehodhom b’qassisin u leviti, jghid il-Mulej”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Responsorial Psalm     Psalm 117:1, 2

Praise the LORD all you nations;

glorify him, all you peoples!

R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

.

For steadfast is his kindness toward us,

and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.

R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

SALM RESPONSORJALI     Salm 116 (117), 1.2

R/. (Mk 16, 15): Morru fid-dinja kollha, xandru l-Evangelju

Fahhru l-Mulej, intom gnus kollha,

sebbhuh, intom popli lkoll! R/.

Ghax kbira hi t-tjieba tieghu maghna,

il-fedeltà tal-Mulej tibqa’ ghal dejjem. R/.

Reading 2      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.

QARI II       mill-Ittra lil Lhud 12, 5-7. 11-13

Huti, insejtuha ghalkollox il-kelma ta’ twissija li qalilkom ta’ wlied li intom: “Ibni, la twarrabx it-twiddib tal-Mulej, u la taqtax qalbek meta jcanfrek; ghax il-Mulej iwiddeb lil min ihobb, jolqot lil kull min jilqa’ b’ibnu”. Hu ghall-edukazzjoni taghkom li intom qeghdin tbatu! Alla qieghed jimxi maghkom ta’ wlied. Min hu dak l-iben li missieru ma jwiddbux? Tassew li bhalissa kull twiddiba ma tferrahniex, imma tnikkitna; izda mbaghad, lil dawk li jkunu tharrgu biha, hija troddilhom il-frott ta’ hajja mimlija bis-sliem u l-gustizzja. Mela erfghu l-idejn merhija u l-irkupptejn mitluqa taghkom, u aqbdu triq dritta ghal riglejkom, biex min hu zopp, ma johrogx mit-triq, imma jerga’ jiehu sahhtu.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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."

EVANGELJU       Qari skont San Luqa 13, 22-30

F’dak iz-zmien, huwa u sejjer lejn Gerusalemm, Gesù ghadda jghallem f’xi bliet u rhula. U kien hemm wiehed qallu: “Mulej, jaqaw ftit huma dawk li jsalvaw?”. U huwa wegibhom: “Thabtu biex tidhlu mill-bieb id-dejjaq, ghax kif nghidilkom jien, hafna ghad ifittxu li jidhlu u ma jirnexxilhomx. Ghax meta sid id-dar ikun qam jaghlaq il-bieb, intom tibqghu barra, u tibdew thabbtu l-bieb u tghidu: “Mulej, ifthilna!”. Izda hu jwegibkom u jghid: “Ma nafx mnejn intom”. Imbaghad taqbdu tghidulu: “Kilna u xrobna mieghek ahna, u int ghallimt fil-pjazez taghna”. Hu jwiegeb u jghidilkom: “Ma nafx mnejn intom; morru minn quddiemi, intom ilkoll li taghmlu dak li mhux sewwa!”. Hemmhekk ikun hemm il-biki u tghazziz tas-snien, meta taraw lil Abraham u lil Izakk u lil Gakobb u l-profeti kollha fis-Saltna ta’ Alla, u intom imkeccija ’l barra. U jigu nies mil-Lvant u mill-Punent, mit-Tramuntana u min-Nofsinhar, u joqoghdu ghall-mejda fis-Saltna ta’ Alla. U araw, hawn min hu tal-ahhar u ghad ikun l-ewwel, u hawn min hu tal-ewwel u ghad ikun l-ahhar”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

       ////////  REFLECTION:

 Father Cantalamessa on 

The Narrow Gate

Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from Sunday’s liturgy.

* * *

There is a question that has always nagged believers: Will there be many or few people saved? During certain periods this problem became so acute as to cause some people terrible anxiety. This Sunday’s Gospel informs us that Jesus himself was once asked this question. “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?'”

The question, as we see, focuses on the number — How many will be saved? Will it be many or few? In answering the question, Jesus shifts the focus from “how many” to “how” to be saved, that is, by entering “through the narrow gate.”

We see this same attitude in regard to Jesus’ second coming. The disciples ask “when” the return of the Son of Man will happen and Jesus answers indicating “how” we should prepare ourselves for that return, and what to do during the time of waiting (cf. Matthew 24:3-4).

Jesus’ way of responding to these questions is not strange or discourteous. He is just acting in the way of one who wants to teach his disciples how to move from a life of curiosity to one of true wisdom; from the allure of idle questions to the real problems we need to grapple with in life.

From this we already see the absurdity of those who, like the Jehovah Witnesses, believe they know the precise number of the saved: 144,000. This number, which recurs in the Book of Revelation has a purely symbolic value (the square of 12 — the number of the tribes of Israel — multiplied by 1,000) and is explained by the expression that immediately follows: “A great multitude that no man could number” (Revelation 7:4, 9).

Above all, if 144,000 is really the number, then we can both close up shop. Above the gate to heaven there must be a sign like the ones parking lots put up: “Full.”

If, therefore, Jesus is not so much interested in revealing to us the number of the saved as he is in telling us how to be saved, we can understand what he is trying to tell us here. In substance, there are two things: one negative and the other positive.

It is useless, or rather it is not enough, to belong to a certain ethnic group, race, tradition, or institution, not even the chosen people from whom the Saviour himself comes. What puts us on the road to salvation is not a title of ownership (“We ate and drank in your presence…”), but a personal decision, followed by a consistent way of life. This is even more clear in Matthew’s text which contrasts two ways and two gates, one narrow and the other wide (cf. Matthew 7:13-14).

Why are these ways respectively called “narrow” and “wide”? Is it perhaps that the way of evil is always easy and pleasant to follow and the way of goodness always hard and tiresome?

Here we must be careful not to cede to the usual temptation of believing that here below everything goes magnificently well for the wicked and everything goes terribly for the good.

The way of the wicked is wide, but only at the beginning. As one goes down this way it gradually becomes narrow and bitter. In any case, it becomes very narrow at the end because it finishes in a blind alley.

The joy that is experienced in it has the characteristic of diminishing more and more as one tastes it, and it finally causes nausea and sadness. We see this in certain forms of intoxication experienced in drugs, alcohol and sex. A larger dose or stronger stimulation is needed each time to produce pleasure of the same intensity.

Finally the organism no longer responds and it begins to break down, even physically.

The way of the just is instead narrow at the beginning, when one starts off on it, but it then becomes a spacious boulevard because hope, joy and peace of heart are found in it.

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