“Try to come in through the narrow gate” (Luke 13:24). What is the “narrow gate” and
how do we “try to come through it”?
Jesus is the narrow gate (Luke 13:22-30). Entering the “narrow gate” begins with
surrender to Jesus: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give
you rest” (Mt 11:28).
St. Thomas Aquinas explains Jesus’ words: “Hence, draw near to Me, you untaught,
because I want to communicate Myself. But what is the need? Because without Me men
labor too much: all you who labor” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of
Matthew, 28).
The gate will close. Those who did not “come” through the narrow gate will claim that
they were with Him: “We ate and drank in Your Presence” (Lk 13:26). Being in Jesus’
presence or hearing Him speak is not enough. We must “come” to Him, personally.
St. Thomas Aquinas explains the difference by means of “dead faith” and “living faith”:
“Now dead faith does not suffice for salvation; nor is it the foundation, but living faith
alone, ‘that works by charity’ (Gal. 5:6) …” Summa Theologiae, 3a. 68, 4, ad 3).
Jesus Himself is the “narrow gate, as He declares in John’s Gospel, “I am the gate, if
any one enters by Me, he will be saved and go in and out and find pasture” (Jn 10:9).
People go by other gates but they lose: “There is no other name under heaven given
among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus enables us to enter, as Paul explains: “God is at work in you, both to will and to
work for His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).
Some people excuse their choices in life, maintaining that they are incapable of doing
anything else. Thomas Aquinas rejects such opinions “… those who deny free will
altogether and say that man is necessitated by fate or by divine providence, he
excludes when he says, in you, because He moves the will from within to act well: ‘You
have wrought for us all our works’ (Is. 26:12)” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the
Letter to the Philippians, 77).
The change that God works in us is deeper and more total than any changes in
behavior that might follow: it is a transformation brought about by the Holy Spirit. We
are, as St Paul teaches, “being conformed in the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29).
St. Thomas reflects: “Just as God willed to communicate His natural goodness to others
by imparting to them a likeness of His goodness, so that He is not only good but the
author of good thing, so the Son of God willed to communicate to others conformity to
His sonship so that He would not only be the Son but also the firstborn among sons …
Christ has us as brothers, both because He communicated a likeness of His sonship

and because He assumed the likeness of our nature…” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary
on the Letter of Paul to the Romans, 706).
The second reading for today, from the Letter to the Hebrews, (Heb 12:5-7, 11-13),
compares God’s actions in our lives to the actions of parents seeking to train their
children in a good way.
Hebrews speaks of God’s “discipline”: “Do not disdain the discipline of the Lord nor lose
heart when He reproves you” (Heb 12:5). Just as parents are attentive to the
development of their children, God forms us. Hebrews recalls the book of Proverbs,
“The Lord disciplines those He loves” (Prov. 3:12) and adds, “He scourges every son
He receives.”
Thomas comments:
“When he says, ‘For the Lord disciplines [chastises] whom He loves,’ he gives the
reason. But as the Philosopher [Aristotle] says, the word ‘chastisement’ is generally
used in regard to children: for we call a person chaste, whose concupiscence has been
chastised. Similarly, a child is said to be chastised, when he is well disciplined. For
something prone to evil needs chastening. But concupiscence is such, and so is a child
who follows his own impulses. Therefore, one who chastises does so to keep them from
evil. And because our senses and thoughts are prone to evil (Gen. 6:5), the Lord
chastises us to draw from evil…But He chastises not to punish but to save” (Thomas
Aquinas, Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 674).
This “discipline” and “scourging” might suggest that God treats us harshly. St. Thomas,
explains, “If He chastises, He does not hate; but His chastisement is directed to our
good, because He speaks to us as to sons.”
Thomas calls attention to God’s desire that we be His children: “God is treating you as
sons. As if to say: Persevere, because He deals with you as with His sons: ‘You shall
call me Father and shall not cease to walk after Me’ (Jer. 3:19)” (Commentary on
Hebrews, 676).
The example of the saints demonstrates how God worked in their lives: “All the saints
who have pleased God passed through many tribulations, by which they were made
sons of God” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 678).
We see how this training worked in the life of St. Paul: “Correction is necessary, as a
sting of the flesh was given to Paul, lest he fall (2 Cor. 12:7)” (Commentary on Hebrews,
676).
Thomas explains that parents discipline their children because they know the troubles
that will come upon a child “who follows his own impulses.” As Thomas said, this
discipline is directed to our good.

Parents want their children to be good, even when children can barely see beyond their
own impulses. God also wants us to be not only good but the good that God desires.
God is acting wonderfully in our lives in a good way.
Thomas reminds us that God is not just an additional parent but a parent in a “more
excellent way”: “God is our Father in a more excellent way, namely, as to the soul,
which He creates: ‘The spirit will return to God who gave it’ (Ec 12:7). Furthermore, He
makes the soul just by adopting us as sons: ‘The Spirit gives testimony to our spirit that
we are the sons of God’ (Rom. 8:16)” (Commentary on Hebrews, 679).
The purpose of God’s discipline is to share with us His own holiness: “There is a
difference between human and divine correction; first, … the end of human correction is
transitory, for it is directed to living well in this life … But not so in divine correction: for
He instructs us in something useful for eternity, namely, to receive the holiness which
He Himself is: ‘Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; let him be your fear and let him be
your dread. And he shall be a sanctification to you’ (Is. 8:13) … He disciplines us for our
good: ‘I am the Lord who teaches you profitable things’ (Is. 48:17); and this that we may
share his holiness” (Commentary on Hebrews, 680).
Hebrews urges us: “Lift up the drooping hands and straighten the weak knees” (Heb
12:12). Because God is acting with us, we can do good things. St. Thomas comments:
“For since the hand is the instrument of the body, it is said to droop, when it stops
performing good works; therefore, it must be lifted up by a right intention to do things
pleasing to God: ‘Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God’ (Lam 3:41)
(Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 684).
Thomas adds, “Those who have not the courage to endure adversity bravely have weak
knees. Therefore, this weakness must be put aside: ‘Strengthen the feeble hands and
confirm the weak knees’ (Is. 35:3). Therefore, lift up the hand and knees and do not give
in to idleness or hesitate because of weakness” (Commentary on the Letter to the
Hebrews, 684).
Thomas reminds us that God’s purpose is to heal us, especially in our affections: “But
rather be healed, for just as bodily health consists in the proper balance of the bodily
functions, so spiritual health consists in the proper ordering of the affections: ‘Heal me,
O Lord, and I shall be healed’ (Jer. 17:14)” (Commentary on Hebrews, 685).
Thomas teaches us that, by God’s grace, we can cooperate with grace: “For grace is
not obtained by merit; otherwise, grace would not be grace. Yet a man must do what he
can. But God in His most generous will gives it to all who prepare themselves: ‘Behold, I
stand at the door and knock. If any man open to me, I will come in to him’ (Rev. 3:20);
‘He wills that all men be saved’ (1 Tim. 2:4). Therefore, God’s grace is not wanting to
anyone, but it communicates itself to all, as far as it is concerned, just as the sun is not
wanting to the eyes of the blind. He says, therefore: see that no one fail to obtain the
grace of God” (Commentary on Hebrews, 688).

Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.