Good day to you all.
As we have gone through our summer and head into the fall, we are also looking forward to the different sports that will take place. For some of us, a Saturday or Sunday afternoon is a time to watch our favorite sports team and maybe a “cold one”.
As we sit and watch the game, do we ever consider what it might take for these players to be able to be on the team? Or how long it may have taken them to reach this point in their athletic career? If we were to ask them, they would likely tell us of the hours of disciplinary work they had to put in to reach this point of being a professional athlete.
(It is like the joke, ‘ A visitor to New York stops a person on the street and says, ‘ Excuse me, can you tell me how get to Carnage Hall? The man looks at the visitor and simply says, ‘Practice, practice, practice.’)
The long and short of today’s Gospel is that getting into the Kingdom is not just following the “rules and regulations” of one’s faith. It is not just “being a nice person.” It is by being humble, recognizing that it is through the discipline of living the Christian life, not just when it is convenient, but every day, every minute of our lives. The athlete keeps up a life of “self – denial” not just when it is convenient, not just when one feels like it.
It is like our good friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost your life.”
Peace and All Good,
Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the
Bros and Srs of the
Franciscan House of Prayer.
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