Jesus calls Christians to enter through the narrow gate and challenges the presumption of those who assume they are already saved, Pope Leo XIV said yesterday. Source: CNA.
Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace to pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square, the Pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading in which Jesus says: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able” (Lk 13:22-30).
Jesus, the Pope said, “did not choose the easy path of success or power; instead, in order to save us, he loved us to the point of walking through the ‘narrow gate’ of the cross.”
There are times when following the Lord, he added, will require “making difficult and unpopular decisions, resisting our selfish inclinations, placing ourselves at the service of others, and persevering in doing what is right when the logic of evil seems to prevail.”
In his Angelus address, Pope Leo said that Jesus calls into question what he described as “the security of believers” and added that the Lord’s words about the “narrow gate” are “meant primarily to challenge the presumption of those people who think they are already saved, who perform religious acts and feel that is all that is needed.”
“Our faith is authentic when it embraces our whole life, when it becomes a criterion for our decisions, when it makes us women and men committed to doing what is right and who take risks out of love, even as Jesus did,” he said.
“Jesus is the true measure of our faith; he is the gate through which we must pass in order to be saved (cf. Jn 10:9) by experiencing his love and by working, in our daily lives, to promote justice and peace,” Leo added.
“Let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us find the courage to pass through the ‘narrow gate’ of the Gospel, so that we may open ourselves with joy to the wide embrace of God our loving Father.”
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Pope Leo XIV: Jesus challenges presumption of those who think they are already saved (By Courtney Mares, CNA)
