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From: Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13

Perseverance in Affliction

[5] And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons?—”My
son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you
are punished by him. [6] For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chas-
tises every son whom he receives.” [7] It is for discipline that you have to endure.
God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not dis-
cipline?

[11] For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it
yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Striving for Peace; Purity; Reverent Worship

[12] Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, [13] and
make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint
but rather be healed.

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Commentary:

4-13. Following Christ’s example, Christians should struggle to avoid sin; they
should put up with tribulation and persecution because if such adversity arises
it means that the Lord permits it for our good. The letter’s tone of encourage-
ment seems to change here to one of reproach. It is as if the writer were saying,
“Christ gave his life for your sins, contending even to the point of dying for you;
how is it that you do not put up with suffering, out of love for him? It is true that
you are being persecuted: God is disciplining you as a Father disciplines his
children. But you are children of God and therefore your attitude should be one
of abandonment to his will even when it seems hard. That is the way a Father
brings up his children.”

The main point is that the only important thing is fidelity to God, and that the sin
of apostasy is the greatest of all misfortunes. “Don’t forget, my son, that for you
on earth there is but one evil, which you must fear and avoid with the grace of
God: sin” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 386).

5-11. Suffering, the sacred writer teaches, is a sign of God’s paternal love for us;
it proves that we really are his children.

This teaching is supported by the quotation from Proverbs 3: 12, taken from a
long discourse in which a father exhorts his son to acquire true wisdom. In the
present passage the father is identified with God and we with the sons whom he
is addressing.

By being incorporated into Christ through Baptism a person becomes a child of
God: this is the very basis of the Christian life and it should be a source of sere-
nity and peace in every difficulty we meet in the course of life. The term “disci-
pline” which appears so much in this passage does not convey the full richness
of the original Greek word, “paideia”, which has to do with the educational up-
bringing of child by parent, of pupil by teacher, and also the punishment meted
out in this context. Here the focus is largely on the second aspect. However, it
should be remembered that in ancient times education and instruction always
involved the idea of punishment. God, therefore, should not be seen as a cruel
or pitiless father, but as a good father who brings up his children in an affectio-
nate yet firm way. Adversity and suffering are a sign that this divine teaching me-
thod is at work: God uses them to educate us and discipline us. “You suffer in
this present life, which is a dream, a short dream. Rejoice, because your Father-
God loves you so much, and if you put no obstacles in his way, after this bad
dream he will give you a good awakening” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 692). If we
were illegitimate children he would not bother to educate us; but because we are
true sons he disciplines us, to make us worthy of bearing his name. “Everything
that comes to us from God,” an ancient ecclesiastical writer reminds us, “and
that we initially see as beneficial or disadvantageous, is sent to us by a father
who is full of tenderness and by the wisest of physicians, with our good in mind”
(Cassian, “Collationes”, VII, 28).

When the soul has this kind of attitude, that is, when the trials the Lords sends
are willingly accepted, “with peaceful fruit of righteousness” and it yields fruit of
holiness which fills it with peace: “Jesus prays in the garden: “Pater mi” (Mt
26:39), “Abba, Pater!” (Mk 14:36). God is my Father, even though he may send
me suffering. He loves me tenderly, even while wounding me. Jesus suffers, to
fulfill the Will of the Father.... And I, who also wish to fulfill the most holy Will of
God, following in the footsteps of the Master, can I complain if I too meet suffe-
ring as my traveling companion?

“It will be a sure sign of my sonship, because God is treating me as he treated
his own divine Son. Then I, as he did, will be able to groan and weep alone in my
Gethsemani; but, as I lie prostrate on the ground, acknowledging my nothingness,
there will rise up to the Lord a cry from the depths of my soul: “Pater mi, Abba,
Pater,... fiat!” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way of the Cross”, I, 1).

12-13. This exhortation follows logically from the previous one. It seems to evoke
the world of athletic competition referred to at the beginning of the chapter. Verse
12 is like a shout of encouragement to a runner who is beginning to flag in the
middle of a race.

The author uses a quotation from Isaiah (Is 35:3) in which drooping hands and
weak knees indicate moral decline (cf. 2 Sam 2:7; 4:1; Jer 47:3). He then goes
on to use words from Proverbs 4:26 to encourage right living: “make straight
steps with your feet”: if the Christian perseveres in his efforts even if he is some-
what “lame”, that is, even if he is someone whose faith is weak and is in danger
of apostasy, he will be able to return to fitness in spite of everything.

However, this exhortation can be taken as addressed not only to those who need
to mend their ways but also to Christians in general, who should be exemplary
and never in any way be a stumbling-block to their weaker brethren.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 13:22-30

The Narrow Gate

[22] He (Jesus) went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and jour-
neying toward Jerusalem. [23] And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who
are saved be few?” And he said to them, [24] “Strive to enter by the narrow door;
for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. [25] When once the
householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and
knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know
where you are from.’ [26] Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your
presence, and you taught in our streets.’ [27] But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not
know where you come from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!” [28]
There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust
out. [29] And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and
sit at table in the kingdom of God. [30] And behold, some are last who will be
first, and some are first who will be last.”

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Commentary:

23-24. Everyone is called to form part of the Kingdom of God, for he “desires all
men to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not
know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with
a sincere heart and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they
know it through the dictates of their conscience: those too may achieve eternal
salvation. Nor shall divine providence deny the assistance necessary for salva-
tion to those who, without any fault of theirs, have not yet arrived at an explicit
knowledge of God, and who, not without grace, strive to lead a good life. What-
ever good or truth is found among them is considered by the Church to be a pre-
paration for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may
at length have life” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 16).

Certainly, only those who make a serious effort can reach the goal of salvation
(cf. Lk 16:16; Mt 11:12). Our Lord tells us so by using the simile of the narrow
gate. “A Christian’s struggle must be unceasing, for interior life consists in begin-
ning and beginning again. This prevents us from proudly thinking that we are per-
fect already. It is inevitable that we should meet difficulties on our way. If we did
not come up against obstacles, we would not be creatures of flesh and blood.
We will always have passions that pull us downwards; we will always have to
defend ourselves against more or less self-defeating urges” (St. J. Escriva,
“Christ Is Passing By”, 75).

25-28. As at other times, Jesus describes eternal life by using the example of a
banquet (cf., e.g., Lk 12:35ff; 14:15). Knowing the Lord and listening to his prea-
ching is not enough for getting to heaven; what God judges is how we respond
to the grace he gives us: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”
(Mt 7:21).

29-30. Generally speaking, the Jewish people regarded themselves as the sole
beneficiaries of the messianic promises made by the prophets; but Jesus pro-
claims that salvation is open to everyone. The only condition he lays down is that
men freely respond to God’s merciful call. When Christ died on the cross the veil
of the temple was torn in two (Lk 23:45 and par.), a sign of the end of the distinc-
tion between Jews and Gentiles. St Paul teaches: “For he [Christ] is our peace,
who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall [...] that he
might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and
might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing
the hostility to an end” (Eph 2:14-16). Therefore, “all men are called to belong to
the new people of God. This people therefore, whilst remaining one and only one,
is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the de-
sign of God’s will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning
and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally ga-
thered together as one” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 13).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.