The Narrow Gate

By Ed Trego

A collection of brief reflections on the challenge of a Christian life in today's society

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ed Trego
• Release date: Jul 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310922176

Ed Trego

Ed and Karen, his wife of over forty years live in Alpharetta, Georgia, just north of Atlanta. They are the parents of four children and five grandchildren. Members of St. Benedict Parish, Ed is actively involved in adult formation and is a certified Advanced Catechist in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and is a student of Catholic Theology.

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The Narrow Gate

By Ed Trego

Published by Ed Trego at Smashwords

Copyright © 2014 by Mitchell E. Trego

Introduction

We live in a society that is dependent on rapid transportation. Automobiles, trains, and airplanes carry us all over the world. If given the opportunity, we will almost always chose the fastest and easiest route to our destination.

Unfortunately we also tend to look for the path to heaven in the same manner. We want the high-speed eight lane interstate highway, not the two lane dirt road. However, if we believe what Jesus tells us, the highway may be the way to ruin and damnation. The dirt road, though more difficult to travel, may very well be the most direct route to heaven.

In Matthew, chapter seven, Jesus told his disciples that they would have to enter via the narrow gate. The wide, easily entered gate is the way to destruction. He also admonished them that the way that leads to life is hard and those who find it are few. That admonition is as applicable to us today as it was to the people of Jesus’ time. The way to God may not be easy, but it is well worth the journey.

My earlier book, Thoughts of God, focused primarily on the spiritual. This time I’ve tried to look more at the practical. Our society is on a road to destruction and we need to be aware of that fact in order to change our direction. God and faith have been pushed aside and are continuing to be removed from the public square. We must not allow our Christianity and our faith to be limited to our Churches and homes. Jesus told his apostles to make disciples of all nations. We too have that mission. It can’t be accomplished from behind closed doors.

Find the narrow gate and prayer for the courage and strength to enter through it. Share your faith with others that they too may find their way to heaven. May God bless you, protect you from evil, and lead you to eternal life.

Scriptural references in this book are taken from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Addition of the Holy Bible.

Chapter 1

The Narrow Gate

"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matt 7:13-14)

As I look at the world today, it’s easy to understand Jesus’ warning above. So many want to believe, and would have others believe, that they are the chosen ones, the spiritual ones, God’s elect. However, many of them do not follow the path that Jesus has laid out before us. They refuse to accept the hardship and difficulty of finding the narrow gate. Even if they should stumble upon it, they lack the spiritual strength to enter through it.

Making it to church on Sunday and living the rest of the week for themselves is not the answer, yet many follow that pattern. They trot out their Sunday Best, not only in clothes, but also in spirituality, and then put their Christianity back in the closet with their suits and finery until the next Sunday. Some don’t even wait until Mass has ended to slip out the doors and get back to their own lives. If they can’t even devout one hour to God on Sunday, why should they expect that God will be welcoming them with open arms? What other relationship could grow and flourish if ignored the way many ignore their relationship with God? Imagine trying to sustain a marriage by devoting an hour a week to it and living the rest of the week selfishly and without concern for your spouse. Your marriage would fall apart very quickly. So will your relationship with God if you aren’t willing to devote the time necessary to make it grow and flourish.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matt 10: 31-39)

Once again we are told that there will be difficulties to overcome if we are to follow Jesus. If we will only look around, we see that Jesus’ words are very true in many lives today. How many of us have relatives who refuse Christianity and live their lives in sin? How many of us have the courage to confront them? That’s what Jesus was telling us He came to do; to turn us against our own family if necessary in order to serve and follow Him. A very hard teaching that few put into practice. There used to be shame in our society. When someone chose to ignore morality and live in sin, there was a price to pay. Even their own families would shame them and, in some cases, refuse to consider them a part of their family as long as they continued to live in sin. That shame is practically non-existent in society today.

Jesus tells us that we must love Him more than our earthly family. Members of our family may turn from God. Our son or our daughter may live a sinful life. Our brother or sister may be living in a sinful relationship. If we truly love Jesus and wish to follow Him, we must be willing to confront those persons and, with great love and tenderness, gently point out their sinfulness.

Our family should also extend to those people with whom we associate and, in a larger sense, to society at large. Sadly, our society has reached a level of decadence that threatens all of us in its sinfulness. Acts that would have brought shame and the reproach of others are ignored, while those who truly practice their Christianity are under attack from every corner. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear or read of the death of an innocent at the hands of someone who simply has no regard for human life. Kids enter schools and kill other kids; children shoot total strangers out of boredom. Girls and women are drugged and raped and it’s passed off as date rape and almost snickered at rather than condemned. We have failed miserably to instill respect for others in our younger generation. If fact we’ve taught them that life isn’t sacred if it’s inconvenient. Through abortion and assisted suicide we’ve taught our children that an innocent in the womb or an elderly in a nursing home is of no value. They can be discarded along with the with the trash if they are an inconvenience. We offer no choice to the unborn; how long will it be until we no longer give the choice to the elderly or the infirm. Are we to decide whose life is of value and whose isn’t? We do not give life, God does. We have no right to take innocent life. It is our responsibility as Christians to combat the sinfulness and lack of morality so common in our society today. Jesus expects that of us if we are to be His followers. He also expects that we will experience some difficulty and even rejection by those we love when we confront these issues in a Christian way. The narrow gate is not for those who refuse to live their spirituality rather than just proclaim it.

"And behold, one came up to him, saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?’ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’ He said to him, ‘Which?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother,