August 22, 2004: Will I Get Into Heaven?

The Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 22, 2004



I don’t know about you, but I find Jesus’ Gospel message today a bit disconcerting. His words make us stop and think—and realize that getting into heaven is not an automatic thing—not even for a priest!

Somebody who heard Christ preaching asked: “You mean, only a few are going to be saved?” And Our Lord most assuredly did not say: “Oh no, everybody’s coming to heaven! As long as you’re baptized, you’re in!”

No indeed. Instead, He said that if you want to be saved—in other words, if you want to get into heaven in the next life—then you have be strong enough to navigate a narrow and challenging path through this life.

The problem is, many of us—if not most of us—live as though we don’t believe Jesus. We’re gentle on ourselves. We settle for being what we think are “basically good” people… people “entitled” to a lot of things and a lot of “wiggle room” in the moral life… yet deep down, don’t we really know that we’ve got quite a few flaws and imperfections… and maybe some sinful attitudes and habits, too? The burning question is: “Is ‘basically good’ going to be ‘good enough’ to get through those pearly gates?” And with what Christ says today, frankly, the answer is No.

As human beings, we all live in the material world—a place where we use our five senses to see, hear, touch, smell and taste… a place where we also use our inner faculty of memory to file away our experiences… a place where we rely on our spiritual faculties of intelligence and free will to guide us on our way through life. We are able to use all these human powers because the soul injects the breath of life.

The soul, as you surely know, is purely spiritual and therefore immortal. While the body will live just a short time, relatively speaking, the soul lasts forever. So during the time we’re here on earth, you might say that we’ve got a foot in two separate worlds: the visible world, or the world of the senses… and the invisible world, or the world of the spirit.

The visible world is obvious and has a major impact on us. It is the whole world around us: the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the entire material universe which we perceive and sample with our five senses. But we also live in an invisible world of realities—things that we cannot see… but just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.

There are lots of invisible things in the natural order, yet we all believe in them. I have thoughts and desires and ideas and emotions. We know these are real, but you can’t put them in a test tube. We’re surrounded by atoms and molecules and germs and radio and television waves and electrical currents and so forth—but we don’t perceive them because they’re invisible. Yet we know they are very real. No one denies the reality of gravity or magnetism, even though you can’t see them.

There are also many realities not in the natural, but in the supernatural order, which we can’t see. They’re also invisible. God, for instance. He’s a pure spirit, so we can’t perceive Him with our five senses. Other invisible, supernatural realities include Jesus’ resurrected body, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels and saints in heaven, and the sanctifying grace given when the Sacraments are conferred. So at Mass, for example, when the priest speaks the words of consecration, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ—yet no one can perceive this amazing transformation in his five senses. We know it by faith alone, because Jesus said it and told us to do it in remembrance of Him.

It’s the same when someone is baptized. We hear the words and see water being poured over his head—but we don’t see sin being washed away, or grace being put into the soul, or the character being marked on the soul, or the adoption as a child of God, or the gifts of the Holy Spirit being poured into the newly-baptized person.

Yet even though we can’t see these awesome spiritual realities, they absolutely are real—and in fact, are far more important for the person’s existence than anything else he might have, like health or wealth or power or prestige. That’s because everything earthly will sooner or later pass away, but grace is forever.

In the world of America in the year 2004, spiritual realities are not held in high regard. You already know that. Our culture is almost totally materialistic, and we have a strong tendency towards atheism. In our world, if you can’t see it, weigh it, or measure it, then we really have little time or interest for it. So as for spiritual realities… well, we either deny them or neglect them.

We Catholics, like all of our human brothers and sisters, have no choice but to live in this materialistic world. But Our Lord teaches that while we must live in the world, we must not be of the world. The most important things in our lives are—or at least ought to be—not what is visible, but what is invisible: the Holy Trinity, Jesus and Mary, the grace of the Sacraments, the Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, grace, the communion of saints, and our eternal destiny of heaven or hell—one of which is absolutely certain when we die.

So there’s the clue that the Lord wants us to understand in the Gospel today. If we want to pass through that narrow gate rather than slam into a brick wall, we’ve got to take a long, hard look at our priorities in life—and rearrange things, as necessary. This, of course, is a lifelong process. Begin by praying for a deeper faith and the wisdom to understand what’s really important—and the courage to make the tough decisions to turn around your life while there’s still time. Amen!




Today’s Readings:
Isaiah 66, 18–21
Psalm 117
Hebrews 12, 5–13
Luke 13, 22–30