Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.

There are many modern catholic thinkers, from Hans Urs Von Balthesar to Bishop Baron, that believe that hell might be empty, and that all might be saved. They believe that all will be given time at the moment of their death to choose God and that all will make that choice to be with the Lord. But our lady (at Fatima), said that more people go to hell for sins of the flesh than any other sin, and she also said that souls are falling into hell like snowflakes fall onto the ground. Jesus Himself warned us more about hell, than any other subject in His teachings.  I think it is clear that Hell is a real place and many souls sadly choose to go there because of their hatred of God, and their love of their sins.

So we must walk the narrow path, and strive to enter the narrow gate. And we must reject the wide easy road that leads to perdition. There is an analogy by St. John Bosco, that describes the road to hell as a path that is wide and angled slightly downhill. As you begin the walk this path at a leisurly pace, it all seems really easy and pleasant. But as you go, the road continues to angle down, ever so slightly, so that you are now walking faster and faster, but it is stilll easy. But the road just keeps continuing to angle downward, until you are almost running, because the incline is forceing it on you. Then eventually the road, gets so steep that you are almost sliding, and then eventually falling. And at the bottom of this road is the pit and the firery furnace, of hell.

Does this mean that you cannot turn and scrape and struggle and crawl your way back to the top, surely you can, but the longer you wander down that ever sloping highway to hell, the harder and harder it will be to turn back. So we must spend everyday discerning what path we are on, and where we are headed. And if you find ourselves on the wide path that leads to perdition, you MUST turn back NOW while you still have a chance. Every moment you put it off, you will be one step closer to that point where you are sliding and falling into the pit of hell, and by then it may be too late.

Dont be that person, change your life now. When the end comes and you stand before the Lord for your final judgement, You do not want to hear Him say “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers! These are some of the most terrifying words that Jesus ever said in the Bible. Can you imagine hearing Him say that to you? Compare that with “well done, my good and faithful servant, come and enter into my glory”. Which of those do you want to hear God say to you? For me it is obvious.

But what must you do, for God to not recognize you? I suggest that you would have to change yourself into something that is completely different than what he created, so marred and disfigured that He cannot see you anymore. I believe that we are made in the image of God, and when we do his will in this life, we reflect back that image back to Him, and He can recognized that image because He created that image. When we utterly reject Him, and choose evil over good, falsity over truth, and ugliness over the beauty. Then we completely marr and disfigure the image of God inside us, and we essentially make a new image, an ugly image, an image of our own creation and He can not recognize us anymore, all He sees is evil, and God cannot see evil or allow it into his kingdom.

If you choose those bad things over God, He will not force you to choose Him instead, you are always free to reject Him, but He also cannot affirm you in your evil choices. That would be like Him denying His own perfection, and that is not possible. If God were to allow you into His kingdom in a state of unrepentant sin, He would ultimately negate his own nature, because that would be saying sin is okay, and God’s entire existence is completely opposed to sin, in every way.

So if you find yourself stuck in sin, and unrecognizeable, what does it take for Him to recognize you? You must turn to God and despise your sin! You must reject the evil one, go to confession, and beg for god’s mercy. And then you must stay close to the sacraments, and live your life in a state of grace. When you do that, the scales of sin will fall away, and He will recognize you again. But you must despise your sin, anything short of that is just lying to yourself. God sees all you will not be able to fool Him, but He will also sees when you turn to Him, and like the Father in the prodigal son story He will run to you when He sees you coming. So turn to Him now, and be restored to His Kingdom.

Oh lord, please help me today to live in your image, to despise my sin, and get closer to you in confession. Amen.