Through the Narrow gates: Different Perspectives, One Truth!

Several reflections from different sources have channeled through since Sunday's Gospel reading from Luke 13: 22-30.

In his homily, Father Grzegorz from St John the Baptist in Longmont, gave a great analogy comparing the narrow gates to crossing a narrow log over a river. He said "if you stray too far to the right or left you fall into the river.  As is the narrow gate to heaven which can be a lonely path; unlike the crowded path to the wider gates to somewhere else.  I have also been reading about St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle and based on Father's homily, I can now picture a very narrow draw bridge leading to the Castle of the Soul and ultimate union with God.  The drawbridge itself was borrowed from Caroline Myss's work on Entering the  Castle.

From Christopher West's CORE Thoughts today he writes...from the following link...

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Enter-through-the-Narrow-Gate.html?soid=1107080223725&aid=QPLr0NjFeks

"Strive to enter through the narrow gate." What does this passage from yesterday's Gospel say to us about the way we live and express the theology of our bodies? Striving to enter through the narrow gate in this context means committing ourselves to a continual purification of two misguided approaches to the body: the tendency to worship the body on the one hand (very prevalent in the culture today); and the tendency to reject or devalue the body on the other hand (very prevalent among Christians today). The more we are purified of both, the closer we are to that "vortex" in the center that draws us up bodily into the divine Mystery with all the elemental force of Christ's bodily Ascension and Mary's bodily Assumption. Lord, help us to enter through that narrow gate!

 

Different viewpoints but neither are easy journeys to the narrow gate, and for me, body worship is a big one.  Earlier last week, Christopher West talked about the recent comments from model Kate Upton about how she felt terrible about herself from her first SI Swimsuit cover. Of course I fixated on the SI cover which was attached and proceeded to a few more pictures of her. There I go, into the river with a big splash! So I pick myself up and start over. Back to confession for me.