21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR C -Gospel (Luke 13:22-30) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“Some are the last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Lk 13:30)

FIRST READING - Is 66:18-21

"They shall bring all your kin from all the nations."

A reading from the Book of Isaiah

^18 [a]I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; they shall come and see my glory. ¹⁹ I will place a sign among them; from them I will send survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands which have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations. ²⁰ They shall bring all your kin from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹ Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the Lord.

SECOND READING - Heb 12:5-7, 11-13

"For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines."

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews

⁵ You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons:

“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord    or lose heart when reproved by him;⁶ for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;    he scourges every son he acknowledges.”

⁷ Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? ¹¹ At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.

¹² So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. ¹³ Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 13:22-30

"And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God."

✠From the Gospel according to Luke

²² He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. ²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, ²⁴ “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. ²⁵ After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ ²⁶ And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁸ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. ²⁹ And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.””

21st SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR C -Gospel (Luke 13:22-30)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear People of God,

Today's Word of God invites everyone to strive to enter through the narrow gate in order to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. Why must we enter the Kingdom of Heaven through the narrow gate? This is the question that God asks each person to reflect on.

So, what is the Kingdom of Heaven? The Kingdom of Heaven is the happiest, most peaceful, most beautiful, and most radiant place—there is no other place where life is as joyful as in the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is the ultimate goal that humanity must seek. Because He desired for humans to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, God humbled Himself from heaven to earth, became human, became like us, and lived among us to share the condition of slaves, in order to save humanity from the slavery of sin and death.

He brought the Word of God the Father to earth to teach humanity to live and practice according to God's commandments. That is to have love, charity, forgiveness, humility, self-abasement, simplicity, smallness, and lowliness before God the Father. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven—the happiest and brightest place—people must strive to pass through the narrow gate, which is:

• We must give up sin and abandon all worldly passions.

• We must set aside all material possessions in order to live fully and obediently according to God's commandments.

We must become humble before God, become a small, simple person, knowing only to rely completely on God's power and strength in order to live out His commandments.

It is a long-term spiritual battle while living on this earth. The world and Satan will use every means to tempt and lure human souls away from God. Indeed, entering the Kingdom of God is not easy; it requires sacrifice, even to the point of shedding blood, and demands perseverance in the struggle to get rid of sinful habits.

Therefore, in today’s Word of God, He makes it known that people must undergo His purification to enter His Kingdom of Heaven. He will teach and send painful purifications of both soul and body. Yet the purification that God gives to humanity is the purification of love. Because God always loves His people, He allows them to experience difficulties and challenges.

But whoever is steadfast and persistent to the end will overcome this purification, will have the strength to fight the world to remove all that is thorny, arrogant, angry, sinful, and passions; helping that person's soul to have holiness and purity to enter through the narrow gate and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

God loves mankind, so He does not want to lose any souls. Therefore, He invites all His children to make a wise choice, which is to choose the Kingdom of Heaven in the future. Each person should ask themselves: when God calls me out of this world, where will my soul go? The answer depends on each person while still living in this world! Choose to follow God or follow the world; choose to live according to God's call or according to the world's call?

Living according to God's call means always fighting with the world, always knowing how to give up what displeases God, and always knowing how to listen and practice His teachings. If we live like that, He will give us the reward of happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven. But if we live according to the call of the world, we are free to live in satisfaction with our passions, sins, and injustices, and as a result, those souls will not receive the reward of the Kingdom of Heaven, because they did not listen, did not practice the teachings of God, did not accept God's purification, and did not fight to pass through the narrow gate to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

God also tells us that He always gives people the freedom to choose: either to choose Him, or to choose to live according to the invitations of the world. Whoever wisely chooses God and practices what He teaches—living with love, forgiveness, humility, self-abasement, and always obeying Him while accepting His purification—will be rewarded with the happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven in the future, just as He has promised.

Thanks be to God. Amen.