I am not a religious person in that I don’t believe that any one religion has all the answers to life’s questions. I believe that all religions and all philosophies can provide paths to enlightenment, and each person is free to choose whatever path feels true to them – or, to set out in unchartered territory and make their own path as I have done. Having said all that, I wander off and on the paths of different religions at will, reading their sacred writings and exploring their rituals. And I still feel a deep connection to the Catholic faith I was raised in. Almost every day, I read the Catholic Bible readings which are read at Masses all over the world for that particular day. It’s a way for me to connect with all my Catholic friends and family – kind of like calling home when I am out on a grand adventure somewhere.
Today’s Gospel reading was from Luke 13: 22-30 where someone asks Jesus if everyone will be saved. Jesus tells them to “strive to enter through the narrow gate.” This particular reading has always baffled me. What is the “narrow gate?” What does that mean?
Today, however, when I read this story, I had an intriguing thought. A “narrow gate” is something that must be entered single file. You can’t do it in a big crowd. Only one person can go through it at a time. If you try to do it as a group, there will be a lot of frustration (“wailing and grinding of teeth”) as people try to push and shove their way through, often hurting themselves or others in the process.
So maybe, I thought, if we want to enter the Kingdom of God, or heaven, or a state of enlightenment, maybe we must do it single file. Maybe each person must go through the gate alone without trying to drag a bunch of others through the same gate or join a bunch of others trying to push through a gate. Maybe the way to enlightenment is as unique to each person as that person’s DNA and personal life experiences.
Jesus once famously said that the Kingdom of God is within us. If that’s true, then my thoughts about the narrow gate make sense. If the Kingdom of God or the state of enlightenment lies within us, then we would each go through our own gate to get there - our own experiences, our own thoughts, our own feelings.
That may sound kind of lonely, but I believe that once we pass through the narrow gate and reach the Kingdom of God, or the state of enlightenment, everyone else will be there too, each person and creature having reached it through her or his own “narrow gate”. And if some of us don’t find the gate in this physical life, I don’t think we need to worry all that much. Death itself is always a narrow gate which each living spirit passes through into enlightenment and freedom.
So I am thinking on this October morning that maybe we all have our own unique path to travel in life and our own unique way to find connection, unity, love and peace.
I hope you find your way today. May God bless your gate!
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