Why the narrow gate?

WHY be a killjoy? Why be a wet blanket? Why not enjoy as much as you can all the fun and the perks in life, be it because of your status, your position, your fame and talent, your wealth, etc.?

            Why? Because Christ said so. We have to enter by the narrow gate, he said long time ago, because the wide gate which, by the way, attracts a lot of people, leads us to perdition, while the narrow leads us to our true joy and fulfilment.

            This is not supposed to be a breaking news, but now, with all the screaming scandal revolving around some pork barrel, it seems this gospel truth is in urgent need to break into people’s consciousness, politicians’ especially.

            We have to shout it out in all corners, especially now when the people are simply dumb struck by the enormity of the deceit and stupidity some senators, congressmen and other public officials have been pulling on us for years.

            We have to explain why this doctrine is necessary for us. It admittedly is not a very popular doctrine, but it should be made so. And we can take this time when we wallowing in some national crisis to make this doctrine more known, appreciated and lived.

            Entering by the narrow gate is not meant simply to make our life hard, though certain hardships and self-denials are involved. Much less is it meant to go against our nature and basic needs.

Quite the contrary. Rather, it’s meant to make us happy, to make us reach our true goal without getting distracted by false items along the way. It’s an act of genuine realism and prudence, given our wounded condition.

It’s meant to liberate us from the effects of sin that lead us to be self-centered and self-absorbed, to be narrow and shallow-minded, thinking only of the here and now without much consideration for the more precious things beyond. It’s meant to be a strong antidote to our tendency to easily get spoiled by the good things in life.

            We cannot get on with our life properly unless we enter by the narrow gate, that is to say, unless we live simplicity, restraint and moderation, transparency and austerity. These virtues make us see things more objectively and extensively, with our feet on the ground even as we realize we have a tremendous supernatural goal to pursue.

            We cannot get on with our life properly unless we continually fight against greed, lust and avarice that have no other way but to end in corruption and to feed it lavishly. These capital sins, like weeds, grow together with the good wheat we have our field of life. We need to uproot them as soon as they appear, lest they choke the good wheat.

            We are also told that when these weeds get to be too many and too dangerous to uproot without harming the good plants, we have to wait till harvest time. But yes, with prudence and much caution, we can still take them away little by little as we go along.

            We have to be always on guard against world forces that pressure us to be materialistic and consumeristic. It should be a daily duty for us to check if the material world is dominating us or not, using the appropriate criteria, like whether we still have the appetite to pray, to make sacrifices, to continually give ourselves to others in spite of tiredness and lack of resources, etc.

            We need to see to it that our spiritual life is continually on the go, is vibrant and eager to show itself in deeds and not just remaining in good intentions. We have to cultivate the relevant culture for this, since at the moment, we all seem to be at least cavalier only in this regard. In fact, we sometimes feel embarrassed to show the vitality of our spiritual life.

            This is what is meant by entering by the narrow gate, an affair that should not only be personal but rather also social and global. We have to assure ourselves that this culture and lifestyle will not jeopardize our economy. Rather it will make our economy develop properly, with genuine not false goals pursued and achieved.

            We have to realize more deeply that our life here on earth has always been a fight between good and evil. We ought not to be unaware of this truth, and much less, unprepared to tackle the implications and consequences of this truth. Entering by the narrow gate prepares us for this.