If your Christianity is put on trial, will there be enough evidence to validate it? - Daily Reflections October 30,2013

BE LIKE CHRIST

 

The angel of death appeared to a man and told him it was his time to die and leave the world. The man protested that he was not ready. The angel of death said, “Sorry, but your name is next on my list. And I always follow this list no matter what.” The man offered the angel of death food with sleeping pills. When the angel of death fell asleep, the man took the list, erased his name on the top and put it at the bottom of the list.

       When the angel of death woke up, he said, “I enjoyed that meal so much I fell asleep afterwards! Because you have been very nice to me, I will do my tasks, starting from the bottom of my list.”

       Salvation and damnation is not a matter of listings, or buying your way into or out of it.

       In the Gospel today, concerned people asked Jesus about salvation. “Are they few in number who are to be saved?” Jesus did not answer the question directly because it is the wrong question to ask. The right question is not “how many.” The right question to ask is “how.” Salvation is not a matter of belonging. Salvation is a matter of being.

       Catholic Christianity is still one of the biggest religions in the world with over a billion in members, and the number is still growing, despite the testy period it is currently undergoing. Being included in that list, however, is no assurance of salvation. In the parable, many were refused entry into the house by the Master despite their claims of being with Him: “We ate and drank in your company” (v.26).

       In response to the question, Jesus admonished, “Try to come in through the narrow door” (v.24). “Being” (and not belonging alone) is the real criterion for entrance into the Kingdom. “Being” is a state of mind — having the disposition of Christ and striving to live out Christ’s invitation for loving self-denial. “Being” is imitatio Christi (imitation of Christ), as the mystics call it. This is why the master of the house in the parable declared to the condemned: “I do not know you.” Fr. Joel O. Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: If your Christianity is put on trial, will there be enough evidence to validate it?

 

As I continue to receive You, Lord, in the Eucharist, bless my resolve to become who I receive. Amen.