12/16 My Monologues & Musings : Narrow Door (Lk 13: 23 -30)
Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”(Lk 13:23-30)
Dear Jesus,
It is so very tempting to avoid the Narrow Door and to skip the rough road. The tendency to opt for the easy way seems to be inbuilt in our nature, Right Lord?
Remember, after your forty days solitude, seclusion, and fast, your were repeatedly tempted to bypass the Narrow Door and enter into a wide world of ease, of name, and of fame?
But you did resolutely resist them and went through the Narrow Door of setbacks and sufferings, Didn't you?
Dear Jesus,
You just didn't merely exhort the people to enter through the Narrow Door with a cosy pulpit preaching.
At first, you practised it in your own life and only then you did preach it.
Dear Jesus,
Being a priest I have been very preachy!
But often I do the armchair preaching!
A slightest inconvenience for me would cause me to react sharply!
And then I skip the Narrow Door.
And I will have a hundred and one justifications and excuses in defense of my sharp reactions!
You know me through and through,
Don't You, Lord?
Dear Jesus,
In a sense,
You are the Narrow Door.
You are also the Way.
Which leads to and from the Narrow Door.
After entering through the Narrow Door,
You endured all the rough road leading you up to Calvary and from there you entered the Door of Resurrection and the New Life.
Dear Jesus,
In my case, i always want to enter through the Door of Resurrection bypassing the Narrow Door!
Dear Jesus,
I want to eat and drink with you while sitting in the cosy comfort of the preachy armchair and avoiding the Narrow Door!
And I have been doing it so for so long.
Dear Jesus,
I want to keep myself constantly reminding that there can be no real lasting Resurrection Joy without entering through the Narrow Door!
Dear Jesus,
You are the Narrow Door.
You open up to the experiences of the Resurrection!
Everyday I want keep entering the Narrow Door.
Even several times on same day,
I want enter through the Narrow.
I need the strength and courage for it.
I need to stop fooling myself with the illusion of merely eating and drinking with you, would get me to experience the Eternal Bliss of your Resurrection!
Dear Jesus,
Whenever I have experienced success as a priest, pastor, and teacher I deluded myself in the belief of a lasting blissfulness.
But it was often a temporary experience of high and later on it inevitably got me landed in a miserable low!
Dear Jesus,
Let me keep reminding that:
If I don't enter through the Narrow Door,
then i will have no experience of the lasting Joy of life!
Dear Jesus,
Next time when I find myself at the entrance of the Narrow Door of my daily life, I want joyfully enter through it and enjoy!
Narrow Doors are there in my everyday life. I want make every effort to enter through them with a happy attitude.
Oh, Jesus, My Lord and My God, I thank you for your :
Unsolicited gift of life for me!
Uncountable blessings for me!
Unlimited Patience with me!
Untold Forgiveness for me!
Unflinching faith in me!
Unfailing Hope in me!
Unconditional Love of me!
Amen
JoAchen
Joachenmonologues@gmail.com
Tuesday, 12th January, 2016
Dear Reader, These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. They are a part of my journaling of the Prodigal Priest in me as I struggle to return to the Home of our Heavenly Father. As I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours. Thank you
Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”(Lk 13:23-30)
Dear Jesus,
It is so very tempting to avoid the Narrow Door and to skip the rough road. The tendency to opt for the easy way seems to be inbuilt in our nature, Right Lord?
Remember, after your forty days solitude, seclusion, and fast, your were repeatedly tempted to bypass the Narrow Door and enter into a wide world of ease, of name, and of fame?
But you did resolutely resist them and went through the Narrow Door of setbacks and sufferings, Didn't you?
Dear Jesus,
You just didn't merely exhort the people to enter through the Narrow Door with a cosy pulpit preaching.
At first, you practised it in your own life and only then you did preach it.
Dear Jesus,
Being a priest I have been very preachy!
But often I do the armchair preaching!
A slightest inconvenience for me would cause me to react sharply!
And then I skip the Narrow Door.
And I will have a hundred and one justifications and excuses in defense of my sharp reactions!
You know me through and through,
Don't You, Lord?
Dear Jesus,
In a sense,
You are the Narrow Door.
You are also the Way.
Which leads to and from the Narrow Door.
After entering through the Narrow Door,
You endured all the rough road leading you up to Calvary and from there you entered the Door of Resurrection and the New Life.
Dear Jesus,
In my case, i always want to enter through the Door of Resurrection bypassing the Narrow Door!
Dear Jesus,
I want to eat and drink with you while sitting in the cosy comfort of the preachy armchair and avoiding the Narrow Door!
And I have been doing it so for so long.
Dear Jesus,
I want to keep myself constantly reminding that there can be no real lasting Resurrection Joy without entering through the Narrow Door!
Dear Jesus,
You are the Narrow Door.
You open up to the experiences of the Resurrection!
Everyday I want keep entering the Narrow Door.
Even several times on same day,
I want enter through the Narrow.
I need the strength and courage for it.
I need to stop fooling myself with the illusion of merely eating and drinking with you, would get me to experience the Eternal Bliss of your Resurrection!
Dear Jesus,
Whenever I have experienced success as a priest, pastor, and teacher I deluded myself in the belief of a lasting blissfulness.
But it was often a temporary experience of high and later on it inevitably got me landed in a miserable low!
Dear Jesus,
Let me keep reminding that:
If I don't enter through the Narrow Door,
then i will have no experience of the lasting Joy of life!
Dear Jesus,
Next time when I find myself at the entrance of the Narrow Door of my daily life, I want joyfully enter through it and enjoy!
Narrow Doors are there in my everyday life. I want make every effort to enter through them with a happy attitude.
Oh, Jesus, My Lord and My God, I thank you for your :
Unsolicited gift of life for me!
Uncountable blessings for me!
Unlimited Patience with me!
Untold Forgiveness for me!
Unflinching faith in me!
Unfailing Hope in me!
Unconditional Love of me!
Amen
JoAchen
Joachenmonologues@gmail.com
Tuesday, 12th January, 2016
Dear Reader, These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. They are a part of my journaling of the Prodigal Priest in me as I struggle to return to the Home of our Heavenly Father. As I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours. Thank you
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