Wednesday October 29, 2025

Luke 13:20-30

Through towns and villages Jesus went teaching, making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, ‘Sir, will there be only a few saved?’ He said to them, ‘Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.

Growing up as a Catholic, I never really knew how to answer this question when the born again Christians asked it. With Bible in hand they would walk up to a rosary wearing Catholic and ask “Are you Saved? Did you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?” It was a tricky question to ask Catholics because that was not our lingo. We spoke sacraments.

So are you saved? How many will be saved? I did not think I had a chance of salvation. Not that I was a bad kid but the competition was tough. Heaven had only limited seats and I thought of all the saints who had died before me. What chance did I have with such limited seats in heaven. The Bible says in Revelation that only 144,000 will be saved (Rev 8:9-10). What chance did I have when I occasionally stole some scones from mama’s kitchen?

Our priest saw our distress and he came up with a solution. Wear a scapular. On the scapular was written “whoever dies wearing this scapular will not miss eternal life.” That was the ticket until mine broke and traumatized me again.

Yesterday I asked us to do our best. God knows that some of us have challenges that are embedded in our DNA. Just give it your hardest. Show some effort in giving grace to your annoying cousin or friend. I don’t worry if I am saved anymore. I worry about feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, giving clothes to the distressed. Hake even tithing to my church is part of my effort. I had to put that one in . Can someone bring me a scapular next time you are in Italy. The brown one please. Gotta wear that one for old times sake.